Tag: Punjab

Harpreet Singh Bajwa

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Harpreet Singh Bajwa, A young animal lover fulfilling the dreams of horse-riding enthusiasts.

Horses are considered to be man’s favourite animal from the very beginning. In ancient times, horses were the only means of transportation. Even today, there are many animal lovers who consider animals as an important part of their lives.

This is the story of one such animal lover, Harpreet Singh Bajwa, who has made his own Horse- Farm due to his love for animals.

Harpreet Bajwa, a resident of Kharar near Mohali in Punjab, belonging to the Military family, was practicing horse riding from the age of 10-11 years. Harpreet’s grandfather and father have served the country in Military and practiced horse riding there. Harpreet was also fond of horse-riding since childhood.

After studying his B.Com and being in a military family, he was getting trained for the job in Military with the intention of serving the country. In the meantime he also learned horse riding. But for some reason, he did not succeed for Military and started working in Delhi and Mohali for 10-12 years.

During the course of a job, we have to do things that our heart does not allow. So I have always wanted to do something different and to my liking. – Harpreet Singh Bajwa

With horse riding at a young age and almost 20 years of experience in equestrianism, Harpreet wanted to turn his hobby into a reality.

As it is said, the passion of horses is very expensive. This is why many horse enthusiasts maintain a distance from this occupation, due to higher costs. Similarly, being from an ordinary family, Harpreet could not do more, but with the money he saved during his tenure, he decided to start a horse farm.

I have always wanted to do something that would satisfy my mind. Because of my love for horses and horse riding, I decided to open a farm for horses. – Harpreet Singh Bajwa

There are several areas that require horse riding to get involved. For this purpose, he took land on lease. It costs him around Rs 7-8 lakh to start the farm. He named this farm as DKPS. Harpreet Singh Bajwa named this school after his parents’ name- Davinder Kaur and Parkash Singh. In this farm, he had horses of the Throw bread Breed. Throw bread Breed is a breed of horses that is considered the best for racing.

Currently he have 5 mares and 1 horse in the farm. Earlier, interested ones in horse-riding came up to his farm, which included children and the elders. The fees for horse riding in this farm is also low, which is why a number of people come to learn horse-riding even today.

Equestrian enthusiasts at my farm are from age 7 to age 50. Babbu Maan, a famous Punjabi singer, usually comes for horse-riding at my farm. – Harpreet Singh Bajwa

Harpreet also prepares his school children to participate in various horse racing competitions. His school children have participated in many regional and state level competitions and have won many awards.

A horse is such an animal that has its own heart and mind. The horse-rider explains the horse with his gestures. We teach all of these skills to our horse-riders at our school. – Harpreet Singh Bajwa

Harpreet’s decision to open a horse school is a very commendable decision, as those who cannot afford to spend a lot of money learning horse riding can fulfill their wish through DKPS.

Future Planning

Harpreet wants to create a better and healthier generation by training horse-riding.

Message
“We should never let our passions die. Hard work has to be done in everything. Young people should work hard to make themselves and their parents’ dreams come true and not to get intoxicated with drugs.”

Amandeep Singh Sarao

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Young Farmer Leading His Way By Adopting New Crop & Modern Farming Practices

In our country, farmers are more leaned towards conventional farming, but this practice does not provide expected profit as per the hard work. But, a swift shift has been encountered among the farmers of young generation.

It is observed that youngsters are adopting new farming patterns and techniques and they are giving preference to vegetable and fruit farming above conventional practices. And as we know those who dare to think and do different, only they can make a big change.

This is a story about one such young farmer, Amandeep Singh Sarao, who is cultivating a crop about which earlier he had no idea. He has gained a new identity in the society, with his hard work and passion.

Mansa (Punjab) based Amandeep Singh’s grandfather and father had bought many land pieces for their personal business interests. But due to lack of time, they rented their 32 acres of land to another farmer, on which conventional farming practices were being followed. He was not much influenced towards agriculture in the beginning, as there was not much farming work at home.

After completing his graduation, Amandeep visited Gujarat with his friends for outing. There, he visited a farm. His friends find that farm very odd, so he decided to go inside the farm and explore it. He discovered that it was a dragon fruit farm by the name GDF.

Very few farmers in our country know about dragon fruit, as it is a foreign fruit and that’s why Amandeep too did not know much about it. GDF farm’s owner Nikunj Pansuriya briefed him more about its farming. After coming back to Punjab, he consulted with his family about it and they praised their son that he has decided to do something different from the usual. Social media was the main source of information for him about the dragon fruit farming and he came to know many new things about it.

“After visiting GDF farm, Lakshmi Putra Dragon Fruit Farm and RK Dragon fruit farm, Vasupujya Dragon Fruit Farm, Shri Hari Horticulture Nursery, Sangar Nursary, I realized that our farmers have been stuck in the cycle of conventional farming from the beginning. Therefore, it’s time for the new generation to do something innovative in the field of agriculture. ” – Amandeep Singh Sarao

Through the internet, he came to know that in Punjab, a Barnala based farmer Harbant Singh Aulakh is also practicing dragon fruit farming. So, to gather more information he visited his farm and from there he felt encouraged & determined to start this new venture.

Amandeep took back 2 acres from the rented land. With the advice of GDF’s owner he get the poles ready and ordered plants from four different places. He named his farm – “Sarao Dragon Fruits Farm” and whenever he faced any difficulty, he took help from experts and internet. In the beginning, he planted red and white variety of dragon fruits.

As it is said that “Things which are happening around you are noticeable and does not require evidence or proof”, in the same way, first year’s fruit of Sarao Dragon Fruits Farm were very tasty and everybody relished it.

After starting dragon fruit farming, all my family members encouraged me and inspired me to work harder and then I never looked back. ” – Amandeep Singh Sarao

Amandeep’s sister-in-law, Harmandeep Kaur, works in the forest department and she advised him to grow sandalwood along with the Dragon Fruit. In our country, sandalwood has its own importance, as it is used for religious activities and its prices are also very high. So, he started collecting information about sandalwood farming.

Amandeep contacted and met Mr. Nitin Patel, the head of Chandan Vikas Association, Gujarat. Nitin Patel has about 2000 sandalwood plants at his farm. In the beginning, Amandeep took a few sandalwood seedlings to plant it on his farm on trial basis. And today, Sarao Farm has about 225 sandalwood plants.

“Do not let the situation overcome you so that you lose courage, rather keep courage in such a way that the situation can be defeated.” – Amandeep Singh Sarao

As a young farmer, Amandeep always thought about doing something new. So he started grafting Dragon Fruit plants. For this, he took training from Mary Ann Passaul, who is from Tangum Philipine Island.

There are 12 varieties of Dragon Fruits at Sarao Dragon Fruits Farm:
• Valdiva Rosa
• Asunta
• Connie Mayer
• Delight
• American Beauty
• Purple Haze
• ISIS Golden Yellow
• S8 Sugar
• Ausi Golden Yellow
• Vietnam White
• Royal Red
• Simple Red

Amandeep still gathers new information related to agriculture field and he has also installed drip irrigation system at his farm. Everybody nearby his village praises him because of his strong determination and hard work and many people visit his farm to know more about his farming techniques.

Future Plans
In the coming time, Amandeep is planning to start marketing its fruit produce on a larger level and along with that he also wants to prepare and sell products made up of sandalwood.

Message
“Farmers should adopt chemical free method of farming. Especially the young farmers, should come forward with their innovative thinking to create more employment in the field of agriculture.”

Balwinder Kaur

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Story of a women, who is doing great with her talent

“After marriage, every women is to take care of her household”, this is the thinking of our society. But a women is the one, who can do anything to solve the critical conditions of her family.

This is a story of a woman, Balwinder Kaur, who belongs to a middle class family and her qualification is in M.A (Punjabi). After completion of her studies, she got married to Mr. Gurwinder Singh, who was working in a private company. Due to some reasons, he gave resign to his job and this led to poor financial conditions of the family. For improving the financial conditions of her family, Mrs. Balwinder Kaur decided to offer a helping hand to her husband, and he also supported Balwinder in this decision. As it is rightly said, If your better-half walks along with you every obstacle becomes easier to handle and with her husbands’ support, she started a PG(Paying Guest) in the house. The work flourished in the starting, but later on she decided to shut it down because earning was very less. Then she thought of opening a boutique but again dropped the idea of same. In 2008-09, she did a course of beautician but she was not interested in this so she never thought of taking over it in her career.

From the very beginning, my interest was in cooking. All my relatives and friends knew that I am a very good cook, that’s why they always appreciate my cooking skills. Finally, I thought of opting this hobby as my career. – Balwinder Kaur

Pickle prepared by Balwinder Kaur is all time in demand from her relatives because of its deliciousness.

For polishing her talent, Balwinder Kaur got a training of making pickles and chutneys from Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology Liaison office, Bathinda. There she met Dr. Gurpreet Kaur Dhillon, who guided her and encouraged her to expand her work.

Now-a-days, people are having health issues due to consuming adulterated food from outside. So I thought of serving people by making pure home made food products. – Balwinder Kaur

As she knew the importance of marketing and labelling in any business, so with the help of Dr. Satwinder Kaur and Harinder Kaur, she got the training in packing and labelling of the products.

After getting the training in Squash manufacturing from KVK, Bathinda, she started her work at home. She made a Self Help Group (SHG) in which there were 12 women. These women helped her in cutting the material and in packing of the prepared products.

This SHG helps me in my work and also it provides employment to other women which gives me a huge satisfaction. – Balwinder Kaur
The training was the key to sharpen the inborn skills of Balwinder.

Products prepared by Balwinder Kaur:
  • Pickle- Mix, Sweet, Salty, Amla
  • Chutney- Amla, Tomato, Apple, Lemon, Bottle-gourd, Mango
  • Squash- Mango, Guava
  • Sharbat- Apple, Litchi, Rose, Mix
We sell our products in the village only and outside the village we deliver them free of cost. – Balwinder Kaur
Balwinder Kaur manufacture and sell her products under her Brand name “Zebra Smart Food” She has also made a whatsapp group (7589827287), where she directly take orders from the customers and deliver to them.

Future Plans:
She want to sell her products worldwide so that people should come to know the taste and quality of her self-made products.

Message:
“We should use organically prepared products only that will help us and our children to remain fit and healthy.
Those women who want to do something, must come forward with their ideas. They should not waste their time in thinking at home. Not only cooking, whatever their passion is. They should make efforts to fulfill their dreams. Have faith in God and keep working hard.”

Manpreet Kaur

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In this era of western culture…a daughter of Punjab is contributing to preserve our heritage

With passing time, we are forgetting the rich heritage of Punjab by adopting Western civilization. Our culture, heritage and background have become part of an exhibition. In ancient times, stitching mats, shawls and phulkaris used to be the hobbies of Punjabi women. But nowadays instead of stitching Phulkaris, women doesn’t even like to wear them. Our new generation may not even know what Phulkari is?

In this era of western civilization, there is one girl of Punjab who is trying to maintain our heritage. Graduate in economics, Manpreet Kaur from Tarn Taran district, manufactures Phulkaris. After completing her studies, Manpreet wanted to help her family due to financial constraints at home. Manpreet’s grandmother and mother used to make Phulkaris. One day suddenly Manpreet caught sight of a Phulkari in her grandmother’s trunk. So she thought of starting a business of Phulkari manufacturing. To make her thinking a reality, Manpreet shared her thoughts with her friends. But her friends refused this idea by saying that there is no profit in this business and nowadays people do not like such stuff. Everybody said that there was no point in doing this.

“My friends said this is a backward thing, nobody likes it. This forced me to think about why people consider it backward. To find the answer of this why was very important.” – Manpreet Kaur

After this, Manpreet started making efforts to revive her heritage. In 2015, with the help of a group of 5 women, she made five Phulkaris. After making the Phulkaris she thought where to sell them now? For this purpose, she started searching the internet, from which she found that there is a government organization that buys Phulkaris. Manpreet showed those 5 Phulkaris to the organization and they took those for sale. The organization used to pay the money after the Phulkaris were sold. Because of this, Manpreet received the money after two or three months, making it difficult to keep up with the house. The same continued for a year.

“My parents put their every penny into this, because they believed in me that I could do it.” – Manpreet Kaur

After working in this manner for a year, she thought that this could not work, as she had to pay the rest of the group members. So she took the help of Internet. She created a page on social media. But here too people didn’t show much interest in buying Phulkari. Due to this, Manpreet thought that what people consider backward, why not give it a modern look?

To give our culture a bit of modern look, we started making Phulkari designs on light duppatas, so that girls could carry them with jeans. – Manpreet Kaur

This method of Manpreet proved to be quite effective. This increased the sales of their Phulkari. In this group, 20-30 women from the city were working, but Manpreet wanted to integrate with the village women too, as they are more aware of their heritage and culture and have considerable experience in this work. But it is very difficult for women in the villages to come out and work. Therefore, Manpreet herself comes to the women in the villages and gives them the material of Phulkari manufacturing, so that they do not face any problem. Manpreet’s initiative brought employment to women who could not work outside the home.

Through the internet, Manpreet’s group got their first order from abroad. They received an order of 40 Phulkaris to give as gift at the wedding. The Phulkaris sent under this order were greatly favoured, which increased the demand for their Phulkaris abroad. Foreign media also helped Manpreet’s group. They promoted Manpreet’s interview through video call, which resulted in receiving many more orders from overseas, such as Canada, United States, etc. Senior journalist Baltej Singh Pannu shared Manpreet’s post on social media, which helped her a lot.

People from abroad likes Phulkaris more than Punjab. Most of our clients are from overseas. – Manpreet Kaur

Along with this, a number of students from various colleges comes to Manpreet for training and internship.

Achievements
Manpreet has received many awards due to her efforts in preserving our heritage, some of which are mentioned below:
  • Honoured at Hamdard Virasati Mela
  • Sirjanhari award by PTC Punjabi channel

Due to these efforts, Manpreet has also been made Brand Ambassador of Tarn Taran District.

Future Plans

In the upcoming time, Manpreet wants to make this business of Phulkari popular in India as well, so that the future generations will understand their rich heritage.

Message
“The younger generation should make efforts to preserve their legacy. This work may also create job opportunities. Women who can’t go out and work can do it staying at home and it can be a source of income for them.”

Priyanka Gupta

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A talented daughter … who is working hard to fulfill her father’s dream

In today’s world, where most of the children consider their parents as burden, there is a girl , Priyanka Gupta, who is working hard day and night to fulfil her father’s dream.

Priyanka, who has done MBA (Finance), spent her childhood in a small town of Punjab , Nangal. Her father, Mr. Badridass Bansal, was an employee in Bhakra Dam’s Electricity department and he loved farming in his agriculture fields. He had a small patch of land in his backyard where he usually practiced vegetables farming. After staying in Nangal for long 12 years, he got transferred to Patiala and started living there with his family. They had some spare land in Patiala and so started farming there. Also, they purchased a plot in Sangroor to build their house.

Mr. Bansal retired from the electricity department as Chief Engineer. Due to this period, they got to know that Priyanka’s mother , Veena Bansal, was suffering from cancer . She bravely fought the disease for a long time and later bid the world goodbye.

After Veena Bansal’s death, Badridas devoted all his leisure time to farming. As there was no construction near the plot that he purchased in Sangroor, he cleared all the land and started to do farming there. In the next 10 years, he gained great experience and knowledge in farming. Looking at his farming methods and the end products he started gaining popularity among his relatives as well, who became his regular customers. Realizing his capabilities Mr. Bansal took up farming as his occupation.

Unfortunately, later he started facing some health issues. To help her father Priyanka enrolled herself in farming. Gradually, her interest in farming also increased.

Initially, they started working with Punjab Agro, where they were really doing well and their sales were at its peak. Eventually, they opened a shop in Sangroor with 4-5 farmers, but due to some problems they had to shut down their shop.

At present, they have a 4 acre farm in Sangroor but it is not registered because the farm land is taken on lease and the owners are not ready to get it registered.

Priyanka faced various problems in her farming journey but always overcame them with the help of her education. This father and daughter duo spent most of their time on farm and practice pure organic farming.

They faced various problems during the marketing but due to her studies, she managed do it . They spent their most of the time on farm and they did purely organic farming.

Training:

Priyanka is professionally not only trained in biscuit and squash manufacturing (Punjab Agricultural University) but also in bee-keeping.

Priyanka got a training of biscuit and squash manufacturing from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. She also got training of bee-keeping from which she learned a lot.

Priyanka’s husband Mr. Kuldeep Gupta who is an architect, all of his friends and relatives buys products prepared by Priyanka.

“People’s perception is that organic products are costly but it doesn’t make much difference. Crops grown using insecticides and other chemicals are very dangerous for human health. So instead of eating such products all should prefer organic products because nothing is more valuable than our health.” – Priyanka Gupta
Product profile:
  • Biscuit (without ammonia)
  • Pickle
  • Vaddiyan
  • Black chickpeas
  • White chickpeas
  • Red lentil (Saabut masar)
  • Turmeric
  • Besil
  • Flax seeds (Alsi)
  • Nigella
  • Fennel
  • Mustard
  • Garlic
  • Onion
  • Potato
  • green gram
  • Jowar
  • Bajra
  • sesame
  • Desi Maize
  • All vegetables
Trees
  • Brahmin
  • Stevia
  • Harar
  • Moringa
  • Mango
  • Guava
  • Cranberry
  • Mint
  • Tulsi
  • Lemon
  • Bael
  • Neem
  • Khas
  • Shehtoot
  • Amla
  • Ashoka

Except making these products, Priyanka also manages to do bee-keeping and poultry. Her husband also helps her in this work.

She said, “ We do not practice monocroping (cultivating paddy and wheat) but also grow Jowar, Bajra and Maize. We grow number of different crops in a year.”
Future Plans:

She is planning to sell all the products to a single person who can further market her products because she wants to devote all the time in improving quality of the products and fulfilling her father’s dream.

Message To Farmers:
“We need to work hard in every field. But you will get real satisfaction when after this hard work, you will see your crop standing tall in the field and when your customers will praise you for your work.”

Amarnath Singh

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How organic farming left a positive impact on the life of Amarnath Singh and is cheering him to never stop!

The desire to eat healthy and live chemical free life is leading many farmers towards organic farming. One such farmer, Amarnath Singh from Bathinda has also turned towards organic farming and is successfully reaping profit out of his farm.

Before stepping into the agriculture field, Amarnath was an ICICI life adviser for 5 years (2005-2010), and the land which comes from ancestors in inheritance to him was given on rent to other farmers earlier. Well, this is not the only background story of this land. Everything was going smooth, his father – Nirbhai Singh used to cultivate the land until 1984. In 1984 conditions got worse and matters got escalated in many regions of Punjab. At that time Amarnath’s father decided to leave Rampura Phul – a city in Bathinda district, and they shifted to Tapa Mandi – a town in Barnala district and also the maternal home of Amarnath’s father.

Nirbhai Singh was very attached to his land, so even after leaving the Rampura Phul, he used to daily visit his farm from Tapa Mandi. But, one day, when Nirbhai Singh was coming back from his farm, he met with an accident and he died (2000). Since then, Amarnath has been taking care of that land and other family responsibilities.In 2010, income source from the rented land reduced, as he got no fair deal that could offer him the land’s right price. So, he decided to switch to farming. Moreover, in 2007 one of his friends, Nirmal Singh Ghootna told him about many progressive farmers in the field of organic, in case if he thinks of switching to farming.

Rajiv Dixit is the person who inspired Amarnath Singh towards farming. To get more help Amarnath also joined Kheti Virasat Mission in 2012 and started attending their camps from where he extracted the most knowledgeable information required for farming.

Cotton & Paddy were the first commercial crops reaped by Amarnath Singh and some veggies for home purpose too. In 2012. He grew Kharif crop Guar in 11 acres from which he didn’t earn much profit, but income was enough to satisfy his home and other farming expenditures. Gradually with the time, Amarnath reduced pesticides use and in 2013 he completely stopped it. In 2015, he also started reducing fertilizer in his fields. Out of total land (36 acres), he is doing farming on 26 acres and has given rest of the land on rent.

Amarnath – I can myself feel the positive change in me and my family’s life after boycotting the use of fertilizer and pesticides.

Eventually, Amarnath decided to shift to his native village in 2017 and today he is leading a happy life with his family. He has named the farm on the name of his father – Nirbhai Farm so that he could be remembered always through it.

To promote organic farming, Amarnath himself prepares decomposer and natural pesticides at home and also distribute it among the farmers free of cost. Today, whatever Amarnath Singh has achieved, it’s all because of his own hard work and determination.

Future Plan:
In the coming time, I am planning to encourage my children towards adopting farming. I want them to stand by me and help me in the fields.

Message
My message is for the younger generation, nowadays younger generation is very much influenced by the social media sites and apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Whats App, so they should take useful information related to agriculture from it, instead of wasting time.

Jaswant Singh Sidhu

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Jaswant Singh Sidhu Sizing up Organic Farming with Floriculture

It was Jaswant Singh’s grandfather who passed on the interest of floriculture to him and today Jaswant Singh is a progressive farmer who is practicing flower farming along with organic methods. The journey of Jaswant in the field of farming started at a very young age when his grandfather used to ask for his help while gardening. Slowly the interest of Mr. Jaswant Singh also turned towards flower farming. But for commercial purpose, his father was cultivating Paddy and Wheat like his ancestors, and due to less land and weak economic condition of the family, his father was least interested in taking any risk and adopting any new thing.

Besides knowing the family conditions, Jaswant Singh enrolled himself in the horticulture training organized by PAU, just after completing his 12th studies. Although he took the training of horticulture, his father never allowed him to practice floriculture on their land due to the fear of crop failure and loss. For some time, Jaswant Singh also continued with wheat and paddy cultivation, but soon he convinced his father for flower farming (Marigold, Chrysanthemum, Gladiolus, Rose, & Local Rose) and in 1998 he started it on a small patch of land (2 Marla ≃ 25.2929 square metres).

“When my father agreed, at that time I was totally steadfast about floriculture and decided to expand it with the time and reap good profit from it. Although there was no good market nearby to sell the flowers still I was determined and didn’t want to step back.”

When the time of harvesting came, at that time Jaswant Singh visited the houses in his nearby villages in which marriage ceremonies or any celebrations were going to be held, and took the contract of decorating their houses and car with the flowers. In this way, he earned a profit of Rs. 8000 to 9,000 over his income. Seeing the progress of Jaswant, his father and other family members were very happy and this boosted up the courage of Jaswant Singh. Gradually he expanded flower farming in 2 ½ Kanal and presently it’s in 3 acres. Time-to-time, Jaswant bring some new flowers and plants from the nursery, to add variety to his farm. Now, he has also started preparing nursery of flowers, from which he is earning a good income and even today also he manages the marketing part on my own.

Well Jaswant Singh’s hard work did not go in vain, for the tremendous efforts he has been awarded Surjit Singh Dhillon State Award (2014)

Future Plan:
In future, Jaswant Singh is planning to expand floriculture and also venture in the field of poly-house farming by taking land on lease.
Message
“Instead of depending on the government plans and subsidies, farmers should start putting their own effort in agriculture.”

Inder Singh

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Potato and Mentha Cultivation Is What Helping This Farmer Thrive In Agriculture Field with Success

Inder Singh, 67, hailing from Jalandhar city of Punjab, is a farmer who has kick-started his agriculture business by adopting Potato and Mentha cultivation.

In a tender age of 19, Inder Singh stepped in the soil and since then he has been following agriculture passionately. After dropping his study after 8th, he decided to grow potatoes, wheat, and paddy. But after putting continuous efforts for years in wheat and paddy, it doesn’t provide much profit and financial conditions were still hand to mouth. So, with the time to increase the profit inflow, he moved towards lucrative crops rather than sticking to the conventional crops. On the recommendation of an American Company – Indomit, he started growing Mentha for oil extraction alongside potato cultivation.

“In 1980, few of the workers of Indomit Company (American) visited our village and advised me to grow Mentha for oil extraction purpose.”

In 1986, when the head of Indomit Company visited India, he was very happy by seeing the mentha production by Inder Singh. Inder Singh grabbed the second position in mentha oil extraction of about 71 Lt from the harvest of one acre and was honoured certificate and a cash prize. Appreciation boosted Mr. Inder Singh’s effort and he expanded mentha cultivation into 13 acres.

Along with mentha, he was still cultivating potatoes. On the recommendation of two wise persons – Dr. Paramjeet Singh and Dr. Minhas, he started preparing potato seeds with different ways. Seeds prepared by him were so good in quality that now it is sold across Gujarat, Bengal, Indore and many other cities of India.

“Dr. Paramjeet Singh suggested me to prepare the potato seed when it is completely ripe and mature, and this technique helped me a lot.”

In 2016, Inder Singh got the license from Punjab Government for potato seed preparation.

Currently, Inder Singh is cultivating Mentha (Peppermint & Kosi Variety), Potatoes (Govt. Variety: Jyoti, Pukhraj; Private Variety:  1533), Maize, Watermelon, and Paddy. The profit he earned in his successive years was invested in machinery and best agriculture practices. Today, Inder Singh has all the modern agriculture equipment at his farm and for this, he gives all the credit to adopting mentha and potato cultivation.

Inder Singh is getting nice price for all his harvest as there is no problem in marketing because watermelon is sold from the farm, mentha is used for oil extraction which gives him an average return of 500/Lt, his prepared potatoes seeds are sold across many different cities in India.

For his tremendous efforts in the field of agriculture, he has been honoured by Punjab Agriculture University on 1st February 2018.

Future
In future, Inder Singh is planning to open his own potato chips processing plant.

Message
“Agriculture is becoming expensive day by day because of the increased rates of fertilizer, pesticides, and other agri-inputs, so farmer should focus on sustainable agricultural practices and methods to take out the best harvest.”

Davinder Singh Mushkabad

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Farmer Achieving Success by Implementing Foreign Agriculture Model in India

Proliferated common mentality among the Indians is to go abroad and get settled there, no matter what they got to do there, whether it’s a cleaning job or any other type of labour job, but if the same work is offered in their own country then they feel ashamed. Yeah, the fact is true that there is more money in working abroad, but what if we bring the foreign technology to our homeland and make our profession a profitable venture. This is the story of a Malwa Region based farmer, Davinder Singh, 46, who very well utilized the opportunity of visiting abroad and brought back the foreign agriculture model back to Punjab.

In 1992, Davinder Singh planned to go abroad, but he was failed with his efforts and at last, decided to start farming. At that time he was unaware from the fact that living in abroad was not that easy because it demands hard work, but making a good profit from agriculture was also not that easy anymore, as agriculture demands sweat and blood both. Though he started farming, when it came to marketing, then from the fear of getting cheated from the middlemen he decided to hold beam balance in his own hands.

“I cannot forget my first experience of visiting the sabzi mandi (vegetable market) of Sector 42, Chandigarh, with mother’s given white dhurrie (carpet), beam balance and a sack of green chillies. I sat there the whole day, I was so confused and ashamed, whether to take money from the customer or not. I was mum. After observing me like this, few of my farmer brothers told me that this is not going to work like this, you have to call out your customers and shout out loud your crop’s selling price; this is how I learned to sell vegetables.”

Moving forward with the staggering steps that season, Davinder Singh earned 45 thousand rupees from his first crop and he was very happy with it. Well, till that time, Davinder Singh already came to know that the path of agriculture is going to demand lots of strength and determination. Without turning back, Davinder Singh started working hard and passionately. Slowly with the time he expanded his farming area and to upgrade his skills he visited Spain in 2007 for a training camp with one of his friends.

In Spain, he observed the agriculture model and he was very amazed by it. Without missing any piece of information, Davinder Singh jotted everything in his notes.

“I observed that the agriculture model which is being practices in Italy is very different from India. Farmers work in groups, and there are no middlemen in the agriculture model of Italy. I also observed that the climatic condition in Italy was not that favourable for agriculture as compared to India, still, they were taking high productivity from their fields. People were using POLY-HOUSE to give an ideal atmosphere to the crops for their growth and development. Seeing all this was very surprising to me.”

After exploring the remarkable agriculture techniques, Davinder Singh decided that he will go the POLY-HOUSE way. In the beginning, he got no assistance for poly-house creation, so he decided to make it himself. With the help of bamboos, he established his own poly-house at 500 square metres and started planting vegetables in it. When the nearby people came to know about it many experts also visited his farm but they returned with negative feedback and said that this POLY-HOUSE is not going to be successful. But still, Davinder Singh with his hard work and passionate spirit made it successful and took good yield from it.

Happy from his work, the national horticulture mission decided to assist him for poly-house and help him in its creation. When the agriculture department was in the favour of Davinder Singh at that time his father – Sukhdev Singh was not in his favour. His father doesn’t want to give their land, as the poly-house technology was new and he was not sure that it will yield profit or not; and in any case, if the loan is not repaid then the bank will snatch away their land.

Without depending on his family, Davinder Singh decided to start his venture in partnership with his friend by taking a loan of 30 lakhs on one acre of land to establish the polyhouse. That year he grew coloured capsicum in his poly-house (Red Bell Pepper & Yellow Bell pepper), the production and quality were so good that within one year he cleared his loan debt with his earning.

The next stage on which Davinder Singh stepped on was group formation in 2010, he slowly expanded the work in the people and groups whoever deserved to learn the poly-house technology under Agro Help Aid Society Mushkabad Group. This step of Davinder Singh was a very wise step, as his group started getting seeds, fertilizers and other necessary agricultural input at 25 to 30% subsidized rate. Moreover, all the farmers who are the member of the group now don’t have to knock on different doors to gather the agricultural inputs, they get everything under one roof. Group formation provided more benefits to the farmers on transportation charges, marketing, packaging, and as a result, one farmer doesn’t get overburdened with the expenses. Farmers Agri Mart is the brand name under which all the crops harvested by the group is sold in the vegetable markets of Chandigarh and Delhi, people trust their brand and they don’t have to make extra efforts.

When I was alone at that time marketing level was different but today we have a group and marketing is easy in the group, but in group quality matters. GROUP is a very powerful thing because everything gets shared in the group except profit. – Said by Davinder Singh Mushkabad

In the span of 20 years, Davinder Singh’s efforts have made him reach from the level of an ordinary vegetable seller to the head of Agro Help Aid Society Mushkabad Group under which currently there are 230 farmers. Starting from a small area, presently he has expanded his farming zone into a larger extent out of which poly-house farming is done at 5 ½ acres and other than this he has mechanized some modern agriculture technologies like drip irrigation, sprinklers to properly manage the water distribution. For his success, he gives a huge credit to PAU, Ludhiana, and their organized events and fairs which supported him with good knowledge bank.

Today, Davinder Singh’s group has become a model of diversification in agriculture sector, with their innovative technologies and sustainable agriculture methods. For his tremendous efforts in the field of horticulture, Davinder Singh has been honoured with many prestigious awards and has attended many delegation meetings in abroad.

• Awarded with Ujagar Singh Dhaliwal Award in 2008
• Received Chief Minister Award by Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi at Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela in 2009
• Received Praman Patra by Govt. of Punjab in 2014
• Received Dr. Mohinder Singh Randhawa Memorial Award in 2014
• Nominated for Punjab Agricultural University Scientific Advisory Committee
• Member of Research Council, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
• Member of Delegation sponsored by Department of Agriculture, Govt. of India, Agro-based Industry Malaysia and the ASEAN Secretariat for the Exchange Visit Programme for Young Farmers. (April 2013)

• Also visited Baki, Azerbaijan as a progressive Farmer member of the Delegation led by Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of Punjab, in October 2016.

Message
For a farmer facing difficulties is compulsive, the more you face difficulties fastest you cover the path to success. Difficulties prepare the person, so don’t feel panic from difficult situations, instead learn from it. Always keep yourself motivated and think positive, because everything depends on our thinking.

When it comes to water management then water plays the major role in farming. Farmer has to get his water checked and after that get his own tank established from the canal water and use it in poly-house, it results in increase in income up to 25-30%.

Future Plan
Planning to provide home delivery to the consumers so that they can eat fresh vegetables rich in nutrients with fewer chemicals.

While sharing his farming experience with Apni Kheti, Davinder Singh also shared a happy moment of his life story with us – “Earlier I used to dream about going foreign, even not knowing that what exactly I have to do there! But later, when I visited as a delegation team member to Malaysia and other countries then I felt so happy and proud, it was like a dream come true. I realized the difference between “going abroad to do labour work” and “going abroad as a member of delegation team”.

Without feeling ashamed, the efforts that Davinder Singh has put in his fields, its results are in front of everyone, currently, he is guiding 230 farmers under his Agro Help Aid Society Mushkabad Group and is making good changes in the agricultural practices. Davinder Singh is a great example and inspiration for the struggling farmers. If by reading his story you feel motivated and want to join him in his venture, then you can contact him by clicking Contact Us button given below.

Inder Singh Sidhu

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Success Story of a Punjab-Based-Farm Which Is Left Unaffected With the Impact of Green Revolution

A farmer whose whole life cycle depends on the crop yield, for them facing crop failure even once can be a devastating situation. Coping up with this situation every farmer takes preventive measures that he is capable of, to avoid the losses… and this is how our agriculture sector in the race of producing high yield, had moved towards modernization by adopting Green Revolution. But there is one farm based in Punjab which is completely left untouched from the impact of Green Revolution.

This is the story of a man – Inder Singh Sidhu, 89, and his family run farm – Bangla Natural Food Farm. A part of the story began when Green Revolution came to India. It’s a matter of time when in the name of pesticides and fertilizers harmful chemicals were put in the hands of farmers. Inder Singh Sidhu was also one of those farmers who encountered some striking incidences which made him hate the use of pesticides.

“A spray was used to kill the pest in the sugarcane field and at that time farmers were warned not to collect fodder for their livestock. Similar type of process was also practiced in the Sorghum field and the spray was so toxic that it even killed the rats and other small insects.”

After observing both of these incidences, Inder Singh Sidhu thought that if these sprays can be harmful to the livestock and pests, then it will harm us as well. Mr. Sidhu decided at that very moment, whatever happens, he will not let such poisonous things enter his farm boundaries. And this is how traditional farming practices of using farm-made manure and eco-friendly methods saved the Bangla Natural Food Farm from death-dealing sprays.

Well, Inder Singh Sidhu is not alone, his son and daughter-in-law- Madhumeet Kaur, both support him. From kitchen to kitchen garden to farm, Madhumeet Kaur takes interest in all the activities and walks beside her husband and father-in-law.

Earlier, when Britishers used to rule India, at that time people called Fazilka, Bungalow (Bangla in Punjabi), so that is why my father-in-law named the farm Bangla Natural Foods. – Said Madhumeet Kaur with a little chuckle

Inder Singh Sidhu believes in traditional farming practices but he never hesitates from adopting modernized eco-friendly farming techniques. He uses all the modern machinery at his farm by taking it on rent, and for the preparation of manure, he also uses “Waste Decomposer” on his daughter-in-law’s recommendation. In place of pesticides, he uses Sour Buttermilk spray, Neem spray, and other alternatives to keep the harmful pest away from the crops.

The main crop for which Bangla Natural Food farm is recognized is the cultivation of the oldest variety of wheat- Bansi. Bansi wheat is a 2500-year-old indigenous variety of India which is rich in vitamins and has great food value.

“When we knead the dough of naturally grown and processed Bansi Wheat flour then it always looks white and fresh even the next day, but kneaded dough of wheat flour which we buy from the market turns black after few hours. – Said Madhumeet Kaur”

Other than wheat Mr. Sidhu cultivates Sugarcane, Garlic, Onion, Turmeric, pulses, seasonal vegetables and they have also maintained mixed fruit orchard in 7 acres. In the age of 89, Mr. Sidhu is perfectly fit and fine, he never takes any day off from the farm and supervises all the farm work with the help of few workers. Many people of the village criticize the efforts of Inder Singh Sidhu and say “What is this old man doing…”, but now many criticizers have turned into customers and like to buy the vegetables and processed products from Bangla Natural Food Farm.

Besides farming Inder Singh Sidhu’s daughter in law also processes some products from the farm produce like – Vermicelli, Bulgur, Rice Vermicelli, Rice Namkeen, Guava Juice and Garlic Powder. Most of the processed products and crops are for home purpose or distributed among friends and relatives.

Property of 50 acres land divided into 3 plots, is under the possession of Inder Singh Sidhu, out of which 1 plot is cultivated naturally from the last 30 years and 36 acres land is given on lease to other farmers. For his natural farming approach, Kheti Virasat Mission has also given him certification.

The family believes in preserving the heritage and traditional way of living, they use clay utensils (kuja’s, hara etc.) for cooking. Organic durries, sandhook and manjhi’s are used in day to day living.

A lot of people visit their farm every year, which includes agriculture students, foreign researchers and some who want a touch of heritage and farm culture for a few days.

Future Plan: Planning to open a small at the farm to sell the harvest and processed products from their farm along with other local natural and organic farmers and convert their farm into a tourist place.

Message

“As we know, if the chemicals are brutal for the pests then it will be harmful to nature as well, so keeping this in mind we should avoid using such things which can ultimately hit us back in the future. Moreover, most of the insects found, are friendly and killing them with the use of pesticides is bad for the crop as well as the environment. The farmer should be aware of the friendly pests and enemy pests. And one of the most important things that matter is that if you are satisfied with your work then you can do anything.”

 

Well, good health and liveliness show that hard work and devotion towards natural farming has paid well to Inder Singh Sidhu in return, and his personality and farming practices have already made him popular in the nearby places.

Farmers not getting influenced by others criticism and doing what is good for nature and humans is what we need today. Salute to Inder Singh Sidhu and other progressive farmers like him.

Sirbeerinder Singh Sidhu

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Punjab – Malwa Region Based Farmer Paired Agriculture With Mechanized Technology, Have You Tried It…

Sirbeerinder Singh Sidhu, 44, keeping in mind about the Mother Nature, implements the best Eco-friendly farming practices through which time and money, both can be saved. And this thought of working in harmony with nature comes in his mind while he was far away in a foreign land.
Farming, as we know, is an age-old practice, which was followed by our ancestors and their ancestors… to cultivate food and sustain life. But, with the revolution and change in demands, today, agriculture has come a long way creating a vast history behind. Yes, there are some negative impacts of modern agriculture practices, but now not only the farming community but a lot of individuals from the city are also taking initiative towards sustainable agriculture practices.

Sirbeerinder Singh Sidhu is also one of those individuals who realized while living in abroad that he has done nothing for the land which provided him everything since his childhood. Although he was very successful living in abroad, learning about new farming technology, machinery and serving the community, he felt very despondent. And that was when he decided to take a long respite from his life in abroad and came back to his motherland, Punjab (India).

“After completing my graduation from Punjab University, I went to Canada to pursue higher studies and later on I got settled there. But after 5-6 years I felt a strong urge from the bottom of my heart that I need to go back to where I belong.”

Already aware of the foreign agriculture practices, Sirbeerinder Singh Sidhu decided to mechanize his own way of farming and then he paired commercial farming and agriculture technology together. Moreover, he decided to start Kinnow farming rather than wheat and paddy.

“Wheat and paddy are the conventional crops of Punjab which needs only 4-5 months of labour in the field. Instead of getting stuck in the cycle of wheat and paddy, farmers should focus on horticulture crops and other agri-allied activities which can be done around the year.”

Mr. Singh designed a machine which can be taken in the orchards by attaching it with a tractor and that machine can grade the Kinnows in 6 different sizes. The machine has inbuilt 9 cleaning brushes and 4 drying brushes; mechanization of the machine up to this level has reduced the cost of labour to almost zero.

“Machine designed by me can grades around 1-1 ½ tons of Kinnow in an hour and the running cost of this machine is 10-litre diesel per day.”

According to Mr. Singh – Earlier, the main obstacle faced was during the marketing of Kinnow, labour cost of harvesting Kinnows from the orchard and then taking care of it was very time and labour consuming and also was not economical. Since the grading machine is developed by Mr. Singh, half of the problem of harvesting and grading is already solved.
This mechanized way of grading Kinnows in six different sizes has created a valuable place for Mr. Singh’s harvest in the market, as it gets more pre-eminence and better return on investment. Using this mechanized way for grading the Kinnows is a valuable addition to the “Sidhu Model Farm”, and from the last 2 years, fruits produced by Mr. Singh is achieving first and second prizes at the State Level in Citrus Shows.

This is not the only approach that Mr. Singh is following; drip irrigation, crop waste management, green manuring, bio-gas plant, vermicomposting, organic production of vegetables, cereals, fruits, and wheat, are other means through which he is trying reduce the harmful footprints of conventional farming practices on his behalf.

Sirbeerinder Singh Sidhu’s contribution in the agriculture field has bagged him many awards and honour at state and national level, out of which these two are the main:

• Won State Level Citrus Show at Abohar, Punjab
• Received award form PUSA Delhi for Innovative Farming
Along with farming, Mr. Singh is also master of other animal husbandry and agri-allied activities, just because of his hobby. He rears dairy animals, poultry birds, kennel dogs, goats, and Marwari horses. He has also maintained a fish pond in half acre and forestry which includes 7000 Eucalyptus trees and 25 Bush Bamboos.
With his 12 years of experience in the agriculture field, Mr. Singh has focused his attention on some important matters and want to give the message to the society through these issues, which are the major concerns in Punjab ….

Subsidy and agriculture schemes:
Farmer assumes that Government is helping us by giving subsidy and making different agricultural schemes, but this is not true; this is a way of making farmers handicapped and grabbing their land. Farmers have to understand their good and bad themselves because agriculture is such a wide field that if it is done properly with determination then it can make anyone rich.

Mind Set of Young Generation:
Nowadays, the young generation is all set to go abroad or get settled in the city, they don’t care what kind of work they have to do in there; for them farming is a dirty job. What’s the sake of investing in the education and employment, if ultimately it will result in brain drain! Youth is unaware of the fact that agriculture is such a prosperous and diverse field that it can provide more advantages, profit, and happiness than the life in abroad.

Marketing in agriculture field:
Today, the farmer also has to become the seller by eliminating the middlemen and this is the only way by which farmer can clinch their forgotten position from the society. Farmer has to adopt modern eco-friendly practices which will lead them towards sustainable agriculture results.

Everyone should remember that-
” once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman and a preacher but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer.”

Dhada Goat Farm

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With The Troupe of These Four Futuristic Men, Goat Farming Is Getting Better In Punjab

Dhada Goat Farm – a farm run by four futuristic men (Birbal Ram Sharma, Jugraj Singh, Amarjeet Singh, and Manjeet Kumar), who saw the fledgling future market of goat meat and milk in Punjab at the right time and established a goat farmhouse where you cannot only buy milk and meat but you can also buy different breeds of goat for further goat rearing purpose.

Initially, the idea of establishing goat farm was of Birbal and his uncle Manjeet Kumar. Earlier working as a college supervisor Birbal was bored and had a desire to set up his own business. So before investing in anything, Birbal wanted to do a complete market research. He visited many farms in Punjab and also went to Delhi to analyse the market and gain some market knowledge.

After the analysis, Birbal found out that there are very few goat farms in Punjab and the demand of goat meat and milk is high. Manjeet Kumar, Birbal’s uncle was always a partner in the venture from the beginning. And this is how the idea of Dhada Goat farm came into reality. The other two main partners joined the venture when Birbal was looking for an empty plot where he can establish his goat farm and then he met Subedar Jugraj Singh and Amarjeet Singh. Both are military retired people. Coming to know about the idea of Goat Farm, Jugraj Singh, and Amarjeet Singh showed interest in the venture. Jugraj Singh gave his 4 acres land on lease for 10 years to Birbal. Finally, in July 2015 Dhada Goat Farm was established with the investment of 23 lakhs.

The farm began with 70 animals (40 female goats, 5 male goats, and 25 kids), later on with the time they bought 60 more. To give their business better management and protection, all the four members took 5 days goat farming training from GADVASU.

Well, the journey of Dhada goat farm was not that smooth, they faced many problems too. While buying goats in bulk they bought some goats from the local goat farmers without any proper vaccination. Which gave rise to PPR disease resulting in the death of many goats in some time. From this instance, they learned about their mistake and then they started proper vaccination of their farm goats from Veterinary Dr. Sarbjeet.

Dr. Sarbjeet helped them a lot in the establishment of a disease free healthy goat farm, he used to visit Dhada Goat farm every week and guide them. Currently, the count of the goats has exceeded 400. Beetal, Sirohi, Barbari, Totapari, and Jakhrana are the goat breed which can be found at Dhada Goat Farm. They sell breed, milk, and manure prepared from goat dung in the market. During Bakrid they also sell Bucks (male goats) to earn good profit.

Feed is the most important thing of which they take proper care. In summer they prefer to give green grass and leaves, grinded mixture of Green Chickpea and Green Gram plants, and in winter they give Berseem, grass of Mustard, Guar, and Peanut. There are two permanent workers which help in managing the goat farm. All the fodder is grown in-house for better feed preparation. Taking proper care of the goat’s needs, they have also left 4 Kanal area clear for the goats to roam there freely. Deworming gun, machine to grind the fodder, medical kit and medicines are some necessary things that Birbal and his other members use to make their goat rearing process easier and smooth.

Average profit of around Rs 750000 is made annually which is divided in between all the four members of the Dhada Goat Farm. Even after running such a good goat farm business, no member of Dhada Goat Farm brags about their success and whenever any farmer calls or visit their farm for guidance they help them with their whole heart.

For their success in goat farming, Mr. Jugraj Singh was also received Mukhyamantri Award on 23rd March 2018 on the behalf of Dhada Goat Farm.

Future Plans:

In future, the futuristic men of Dhada Goat Farm are planning to expand their goat numbers up to 1000.

Message
“Goat farming is an allied activity which any farmer can follow along with crop cultivation and can earn good profit from it. Farmers should be aware of the leading edge of this business and its profit.”

Today the main thing that the agriculture society has to understand is that there is an advantage in staying together. These four men understood this thing very well, which helped them in running a successful business. For any goat farming related queries you can contact Dhada Goat Farm and take guidance from them. Read more interesting stories by downloading Apni Kheti mobile app from Google Play Store.

Kulwinder Singh Nagra

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Hope for the Better Present and Future, Turned Kulwinder Singh Nagra towards Sustainable Farming Practices

Hope is the only positive feeling which gives a person the strength to think about the future even not being sure about it. And when we know that we are thinking about the better future then our actions are accelerated automatically despite knowing some negative consequences. Same was the case with Kulwinder Singh Nagra, a progressive farmer from Nagra village of district Sangrur, for whom hope acted as the driving force to turn towards natural farming.

“Before venturing into natural farming I knew that I will face loss for consecutively two years, even after sensing this situation I decided to adopt natural practices. Because for me my family and surrounding are more important than earning money. Moreover, I am earning for my family and myself, what if, even after earning so much money I am not able to keep my family healthy… then everything is in vain.”

Coming from a farming background, Kulwinder Singh Nagra also decided to follow the same footsteps like his father. In 1997, after completing his matriculation, he started following the family old traditions of paddy and wheat cultivation. Till 2000, he continued wheat and paddy in 10 acres of his land and some vegetables like Peas, Onion, Garlic, and Bottle gourd in one acre. But somewhere in his heart, he was not satisfied with the mass production of wheat and paddy. So, gradually he started increasing the vegetable cultivation area from one acre to 7 acres and Kinnow and Guava in 1 ½ acres.

“Kinnow was less successful but Guava gave good returns and I continued it in the future also.”

Experiencing the success in horticulture, raised Kulwinder Singh Nagra’s confidence, and steadily he expanded his agriculture activities to generate more profit. From vegetable cultivation to nursery preparation he started doing everything. In 2008-2009 he started selling prepared nursery of Chilli, Onion, Pumpkin, Bitter Gourd, Bottle Gourd, Tomato, and Bel, outside Punjab in Shahabad Markanda, Sirsa, and in different Kisan Melas also.

In 2009, he thought of changing his farming practices into natural, so he took training of Kudrati Kheti from Pingalwara, where the basics of Zero Budget Natural Farming are taught to the farmers who want to make earth a better place. Keeping in mind a safe and stable start Kulwinder Singh Nagra started natural farming from 5 acres.

He was well-aware from the fact that converting pesticide and chemical treated land to organic will take a long time and he will earn no profit in the beginning. But he never stepped back from what he started. In between, he decided to upgrade his farming skill and he took training in different fields for food processing, hybrid seed production of chili and cucumber, net house cultivation of vegetables, and greenhouse management. Almost after two years, he started earning the minimal profit.

“Marketing was the main hurdle which I faced the most to sell my organic produce. As I was a newbie so it took me some time to understand the marketing strategies. In 2012, I adopted right marketing strategies and then it became easy for me to sell the vegetables.”

Another step that Kulwinder Singh Nagra took to avoid any harm to nature was that he stopped burning stubble. Today stubble burning is one of the major problems, which Punjab is encountering and on Global level also it is a big issue. Just to save the time, labour and money farmers in Punjab and Haryana are burning stubble, but Kulwinder Singh Nagra instead of burning the stubble, used it for the mulching method and the rest of the stubble for composting.

Kulwinder Singh Nagra always prefers modern environment-friendly technologies like happy seeder, cultivator, bed planter, plough, ripper, and rotavator, to move ahead in the field of agriculture flourishingly.

Currently, he is cultivating wheat on 3 acres, fodder crop on 2 acres, vegetables (Chilli, Capsicum, Cucumber, Ash Gourd, Watermelon, Bottle Gourd, Brinjal, Onion, and Garlic) on 6 acres and fruits like Peach, Amla (Gooseberry), and Kinnow in 1 acre. He uses drip irrigation to properly utilize the water at his farm.

To support his agricultural activities he is also doing dairy farming. He has 12 animals in his barn which include Murrah buffalo, Neeli Ravi, and Sahiwal. 90 to 100 kg is milk production per day, out of which he sold 70-75 kg milk in the market and uses the rest for home consumption. Now, marketing is not a big deal, he sells all the organic vegetables in the market of Sangrur, Sunam, and Samana. Merchants come to his farm themselves to buy the fruits. And in this way, he is earning the right price of his crop produce.

For all his accomplishments he gives credit to Punjab Agriculture University and his family. Today, he has become a person who inspires others with his natural vegetable farming skills; and he is proud of it. For his work in the field of natural farming of vegetables, he has received many awards and appreciation and some of them are…

• Received “Krishi Karman Award of Progressive Farmer” given by Hon. Prime Minister of India – Narendra Modi at Sooratgarh (Rajasthan) – 19th February 2015.

• Received Block Level Award under ATMA, given by Shri Kumar Rahul IAS Deputy Commissioner Sangrur.

• Received award from Punjab Agriculture University Ludhiana.

• Received award from Director of Agriculture, Punjab

• Achieved 1st and 2nd position many times in cultivating best vegetable variety

Well, these awards are just a few to mention, he is mainly recognized for his work for the farmer society. Farmer interactions, PAU and KVK Scientists visit at his farmhouse is organized often to provide a broad insight to the farmers to work successfully in the field of agriculture. He has also established Vermi compost plant, follows inter-cropping pattern, low tunnel technique, practice beekeeping, bed planting in wheat (in some areas) zero tillage of wheat by using No-till drill Happy Seeder, Laser Levelling before transplanting of paddy, mechanical transplanting, Integrated Pest Management and Integrated Nematode Management.

Impact of Adaptation of Agriculture Technologies:

After the adaptation of different agriculture technologies, his wheat production increased creating the record of highest wheat production across the country which was 6456 kg per hectare in 2014 by following natural farming practices. And for this achievement he was awarded Krishi Karman award as mentioned above. Farmers living nearby him idolize him and consult him to adopt more environment-friendly technologies.

Future Plan:
In future Kulwinder Singh Nagra is planning to export vegetables to abroad.

Message
“Farmers who chose the path of suicide to get relieved from the burden of loans and responsibilities, should stop doing this. God has given us numerous opportunities and abilities to achieve our life goals and we should never let these chance skip.”

 

Balwinder Singh Sandhu

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STORY OF A FARMER BREAKING THE OLD CONSERVATIVE CUSTOMS OF FARMING TO ADOPT NATURAL PRACTICES

Today, farmers are the only person who can inspire other farmers towards organic practices of agriculture; and Balwinder Singh is one of those farmers who has adopted organic farming in the recent years to bring a positive change in the environment, by getting inspired by a fellow progressive farmer.

Well, turning towards organic is not that easy for those farmers who are used to conventional farming practices and high yield. But Balwinder Singh Sandhu overcame this hurdle with his strong determination and persistence hard work.

Earlier, in 1982 to 1983, he used to cultivate Cotton, Mustard and Guar crop, but from 1997 he started encountering pest attack of boll-worm on cotton crop, due to which he faced a major loss repeatedly. So, after that, he decided to start with paddy but still did not achieved the level of satisfaction with which he was farming earlier. His journey towards organic farming started in 2011 when he visited the organic vegetable farm of Manmohan Singh.

Visit to the organic farm, opened multiple insights of Balwinder Singh and then he decided to start vegetable farming; he initiated with chilli. To improve his earlier farming mistakes he even visited Gujarat to buy the good variety of cotton seeds and there he discovered information about the farming of seedless cucumber, strawberry, and melon. For continuously 3 years he keeps on reducing the use of pesticides on his land.

That year, Chilli crop yield was very good and it made him a profit of Rs 500000 just from 2 acres. Balwinder Singh also took advantage of his farm location. His farm location was on the road, so he put up a small shop at the roadside where he started selling vegetables. He also started processing chilli into chilli powder.

“When I started processing chilli powder then many people used to complain about it that your chilli powder is not red in color. Then I explained to them that chilli powder is never blood red in color. The powder which people generally purchase from the market has impurities and color adulteration.”

In 2013, Balwinder Singh started cultivating more veggies like Cucumber, Tomato, Pumpkin, and Capsicum.

“More crops needed more area, so to increase the farming area I took 40 acres land on lease from cousins and brothers. In the beginning, marketing was an issue for vegetables, but by the time this problem was also resolved.”

Currently, Balwinder Singh is cultivating vegetables on 8-9 acres, strawberry on 1 acre and paddy and wheat on the rest of the land. Moreover, to increase the productivity he has adopted all the modern farming implements, technology and environment-friendly practices like tractor, bed planter, rotavator, cultivator, leveller, seeder, drip irrigation, mulching, home-prepared organic compost and buttermilk spray in place of insecticides.

From the last four years, he is practicing complete organic methods on 2 acres of land and has reduced the use of pesticides and insecticides on rest of the land mass. Balwinder Singh’s hard work has impressed many people, even the DC of his area visited his farm; many articles have been published about his work in different print media and with the speed with which he is progressing, he will be recognized in the future also…

Message:
“Now farmers have to hold the weighing machine in their own hands to sell their produce to earn the profit. Because if they will continue their dependence on the middlemen or dealers for selling their harvest then they will not progress and will be cheated by the thugs again and again. Mediators take away all the profit that is farmer’s right.”

Bhupinder Singh Sandha

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Meet Progressive Beekeeper Bhupinder Singh Sandha Who Is As Busy As Bees in Propagating Apiculture

By remembering the first bee sting, generally, most of the people just hate being around the bees, unaware from the fact that these little busy bees can help you make an unbelievable sum of money, not only from honey but from many other by-products of honeybees.

But it was never money for which Bhupinder Singh Sandha started beekeeping; it was the buzz, the art of bees, and the boons of beekeeping which fascinated Bhupinder Singh Sandha more towards it.

It was 1993 when Bhupinder Singh Sandha came to know about the process of apiculture during a visit to honeybee farm in Rajpura organized by Agriculture Department. Watching the bees at work inspired Bhupinder Singh so much that he decided to start beekeeping with mere 5 subsidize honeybee boxes.

To say, Bhupinder Singh Sandha had a diploma degree in pharmacy and he was a pharmacist, but his life was surrounded by the buzzing bees and sweetness of honey.

In 1994, Bhupinder Singh Sandha also opened a Pharma store and also use to sell processed honey at that store and steadily his beekeeping business was also expanding. His purpose of coming in the pharmacy line was to really help the people, but later he realized that he was just selling the prescribed medicines, which was not what he actually thought. He did market research in 1997 and analyzed that beekeeping is the line on which he needs to focus. So, after 5 years of running the pharma store, he finally dropped the medical line and decided to completely focus on the bees.

And it is said that – You feel the real happiness in life when you choose a job you love.

Same was with Bhupinder Singh Sandha, he found beekeeping the real pursuit of happiness. In 1999, he expanded his bee farm to 500 boxes and came up with 6 types of honey varieties like Himalayan, Ajwain, Tulsi, Jamun, Kashmiri, Eucalyptus, Litchi and many more. Other than honey, he also sells bee pollen, bee wax, and roasted flax-seeds powder. The brand name which he chose to represent his honeybee products is Amolak and currently, it has a very good market in Punjab. With the group of 10 workers, he manages his whole bee farm and his wife also supports him in his business.

For Bhupinder Singh Sandha beekeeping is a major part of his life, not only because it is the source of income, but also because he loves to see bees at work and it is one of the great ways to experience this nature’s wonder. Through beekeeping, he wants to rise along with other farmers in the different field. He also guides the farmers who visit his farm regarding practical training for honey harvesting, Queen Bee rearing and packaging the products. Through Radio programmes and print media, he tries his best to contribute to the society and propagate apiculture and its diversification.

Bhupinder Singh Sandha’s farm is situated in his village Tiwana, Patiala, where he has taken 10 acres on lease. He generally keeps 900-1000 honey boxes and sells the rest. His wife is his second business partner and supports him at every step. To make his work more successful, he has attended many training to improvise his skills and has also displayed his work in many national and international platforms across the globe. He is also the recipient of many appreciation letters by various departments of Punjab Agriculture University in the field of beekeeping. He has his own ATMA Kissan Hut by the name Amolak under ATMA scheme where he sells his processed products.


Future Plan:

In future, he is planning to come up with one more by-product of honey bees and that it propolis. Other than beekeeping he wants to introduce chemical free organic jaggery powder under the Amolak brand. He has many other great ideas on which he is still working and will disclose it later with the time.

Message

“For beekeepers marketing honey themselves is the best thing because in this way they can reduce the adulteration and the role of mediators who seize most of the profit.”

 

Bhupinder Singh Sandha has kick started his profession with his own passion for beekeeping and in the future also he will try to explore the potential hidden in apiculture field for the welfare of the society. If the story of Bhupinder Singh Sandha has kindled you to know more about beekeeping then you can contact him to know more.

Karamjit Singh Bhangu

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Meet the Modern Farmer, Who Is Growing According To the Need of the Hour

For Karamjit Singh, becoming a farmer was a distant dream, but the circumstantial conditions changed everything. In the last seven years, Karamjit Singh’s perception changed completely towards farming and now he has turned towards organic farming completely.

Like other young boys, Karamjit Singh was also a free soul who loved to play cricket all day long, he used to participate in the local cricket tournaments. His life was confined between school and playground. He never thought at that time that his life would take a whole new turn about which he had never thought about. During his academic years (school) in 2003, his father passed away and soon after some time, in 2005, his mother also passed away. After that only his grandparents were left in his family. At that time, situations were not under his control, so he decided to drop his studies after 12th and support his family.

At a very young age he got married and he also had the opportunity to go abroad and start his life from a new beginning again, but he chose to stay back with his grandparents. 2011 was the year when he decided to step in the field of farming. He started cultivating cereals, pulses, grains, and everything organically for home purpose in a small acreage. He got inspired by other farmers in his area and slowly expanded his farming expanse. Time and experience built confidence and then Karamjit Singh took his land back from lease.

He added more vegetable varieties like Squash Melon, Cauliflower, Okra, Peas, Chilli, Sweet Corn, Bottle Gourd, and Brinjal in his farmland and also started preparing nursery of chili, tomato, capsicum, and other vegetables.

The exposure that Karamjit got from farming, boosted up his confidence and in 2016 he decided to take 14 acres land on lease; and this is how Karamjit started making a happy life out of his living.

Today, in the life of Karamjit, he is still a newbie in the field of farming who has the curiosity to explore more and do more. With the same spirit, he entered in the field of floriculture, in 2017 and started cultivating Marigold by inter-cropping it with Gladiolus.

There also came a man- Ashok Kumar in the life of Karamjit Singh, who enlightened him with the knowledge of friendly pest and enemy pest, and this is how Karamjit Singh boycotted the use of insecticides in his field completely. Karamjit Singh took every chance as an opportunity to learn something new about farming and this is how he stepped towards his successes.

Currently, the whole farm of Karamjit Singh is equipped with drip irrigation system and pack-house for vegetables. He gives every nutrient to the vegetables in the most natural way possible. For marketing, he is following farm to the home concept in which he is doing home delivery of fresh insecticides free vegetables and he has also established an on-farm-market through which he is earning well.

For his initiative of cultivating fresh insecticides free vegetables he has been awarded by PAU, Kisan Club on 1st February, and he was also awarded second prize for best quality peas by Patiala Horticulture Department in 2014.

Karamjit Singh’s wife – Premdeep Kaur is his supporting pillar, she helps him in labour and harvesting process, and he manages the marketing part. In the beginning, there were some problems in marketing, but slowly he overcame all the hurdles with his hard work and enthusiasm. In place of chemicals and fertilizer, they prepare organic compost and spray at home. Recently, Karamjit Singh has planted 200 fruit trees of Kinnow, Pomegranate, Guava, Apple, Loquat, Lemon, Java Plum, Pear and Mango in his farm and in future he wants to focus on guava orchards.

Message:

“Committing suicide is not the solution. Farmers have to come out of the conventional cycle of farming, only then they can achieve success in long run. Moreover, farmers have to understand the importance of our Mother Nature and they should work towards saving water and soil.”

Currently, at the age of 28, Karamjit Singh has established his own organic business in his village Kansuha Kalan in Nabha Tehsil of Patiala District, and the spirit with which he is succeeding towards organic farming indicates a better future for his family and his surroundings. Karamjit Singh is a progressive farmer who has the capability to set an example for those aimless youth who are confused with their career choices… we need more farmers like him.

Uma Saini

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Uma Saini: The Woman behind the Revolution of Turning Waste Food into Soil Food to Make Earth A Better Place

It’s been years, since our soil is getting exploited and abused with the use of chemicals, fertilizers, and dumping of poisonous waste in the earth, and by understanding this situation, Uma Saini, a Ludhiana based female entrepreneur and Managing Director of Agricare Organic Farms, decided to take an initiative of preparing soil food which can help in regaining all the nutrients and richness which has been lost in the past decades. Other than contributing to the Mother Nature, she is also playing the role of a powerful protagonist in the field of women empowerment. With her dynamism, she is making earth a better place and will continue to do so in the future also…

Have you ever imagined…what will be the life on earth if anything that died or is waste is not getting decomposed but it is just lying on the ground!

Thinking about this view can send chills down the spine, and by making you think about this situation, is an indication towards the soil health. The soil is considered as an important element because directly or indirectly, people are dependent on it. Green Revolution and Urbanization are the major factors that have led to the deterioration of the soil, and still, farmers, big pesticide companies and other MNC’s are unable to understand this.

The endless use of chemicals kindled Uma Saini to turn towards organic practices. It all started in 2005 when Uma Saini decided to start organic farming. Well, organic farming sounds very easy but when it comes to its implementation then some of the experts even don’t know where to start and how to make it fruitful.

“Although, I decided to start organic farming on large scale, but from where to get good quality manure in large quantity was the major hurdle. So, I decided to establish my own Vermicompost plant.”

Establishing organic farm and Vermicompost plant in the middle of the city was almost impossible, so Uma Saini started investing in small land masses in the villages and slowly Agricare brand came into reality. Today, there are multiple units of vermicomposting plant and organic farms of Agricare in different parts of North India.

“Purchasing land in the village area was also a very difficult thing that we finally overcame. Villagers use to ask us multiple questions like… what is your purpose of buying land here, will your production unit pollute our area… etc.”

One of the production units of Agricare is established in the small village- Sidhwan Kalan of Ludhiana (Punjab), where Uma Saini has employed most of the women at the farm.

“I believe, a woman plays an important part in our society, so with the motive of women empowerment, I have employed most of the women of Sidhwan Kalan village and other nearby villages at my farm.”

Moreover, other than advocating women empowerment, Uma Saini is also a great mentor. She invites college students, especially female student to make them aware of this blooming field of Organic farming, vermicomposting and agri-business. For young aspiring women, Uma Saini also conducts free training sessions.

“Student who pursue B.Sc. in agriculture have larger scope in the field of agriculture and especially to make them aware, my husband and I provide free training, deliver guest lectures in various colleges.”

Uma Saini has also prepared a vermi hatchery in his Ludhiana vermicomposting plant where she prepares worm seeds. Vermi-hatchery is a term, about which very few people are aware of. We all know that worms are the real worker in making the soil mineral and nutrient rich, so, in this unit, Eisenia fetida also known as red worm (species of earthworm) adapted to decaying of organic material are prepared for further selling purpose.

Most of the vermicomposting units of Agricare are fully automized giving a boost in the production leading to good sales. Other than this, Uma Saini has contracted more than 700 farmers from different parts of India under organic farming.

“By contract organic farming and vermicomposting, our work is getting done, but along with that the society is also getting the benefits of employment and healthy nature.”

Today, Agricare has become the largest seller of Vermicompost in North India after knocking down major brand of organic compost like TATA. Himachal and Kashmir are the leading markets of SOIL FOOD currently. The major input that Agricare is utilizing in the production of Vermicompost- Soil Food is food waste of big companies like Nestle, Hindustan Lever, Cadbury, etc. Agricare is playing a major role in keeping the environment healthy by consuming food waste of big MNC’s.

Very soon Uma Saini and her husband- Mr. V.K. Saini is planning to launch a new organic label brand in Ludhiana for fresh organic vegetables and fruits where they will deliver their products door to door to the customers.

“Going organic is the need of the hour, people have to learn from their grassroots, then only they can do well in the field of farming by keeping harmony with nature.”

Undying spirit of Uma Saini to work for nature and by nature, signifies that there is no periphery to work in harmony with nature. Moreover, children of Uma Saini- daughter and son, both are very interested in following their parent’s footsteps and to invade this field magnificently in the future they are pursuing their studies in the field of agriculture.

Message:
“Nowadays, many children are opting B.Sc. Agriculture field, but when they complete their degree, at that time, they just have the bookish knowledge and they are satisfied with it. But this is not enough to succeed in the field of agriculture unless they put their hand in the soil. Practical knowledge is very much necessary and youth has to understand that and progress accordingly.”

Mohan Singh

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Story of a Man, Who United With His True Childhood Passion of Farming after Retirement

Passion is an amazing emotion or we can say an oomph factor which can lead a person in any direction he wants. And by coming in account with this 64 year-old-man, Mohan Singh, every positive though about passion seems true. From the last 2 years this retired man, Mohan Singh, is spending his every single moment to fulfil his childhood passion of farming.

After serving BCAM for more than three decades, Mohan Singh finally got retired in 2015 as a GM (General Manager) from the organization, and then he decided to step in the soil to accomplish those dreams that was left undone and buried somewhere in the back of his heart.
Coming from an educated background where his father was in military, Mohan Singh was never confined to career choices, he had the freedom to follow his dreams. In his childhood years, Mohan Singh got so much influenced towards farming that he himself was not aware of.

While growing up, Mohan Singh, often use to visit his small 5 acres family farm where his family use to grow wheat, paddy and some seasonal veggies for home consumption. But as he grew up, his life got more complex, confined between limited space of education system, job responsibility and later on family responsibilities.

After getting retired, in 2015, Mohan Singh joined a part time job as a consultant in Prakash Iron Foundry, Agra; he use to visit there once or twice a month. In the same year, 2015, he took his first step towards his childhood desire and he started preparing nursery of black onion and chilli.

He began with 100 soil beds, and slowly expanded the area up to 200 soil beds and then he expanded it in 1 acre with 1000 soil beds. He started marketing his products through on-road stalls. He got good response in return which inspired him to start preparing vegetable nursery also. To take his venture up to the next level he started contract farming with a person in which he started growing late variety of chilli through which he earned more profit.

Black onion is the main crop which fetched him great profit than the older variety of onions because it decays at slower rate due to which its storage life is increased. With the help of few worker he manages his whole farm and also work as a consultant with Prakash Iron Foundry. He has all the modern implements like tractor, harrow, tiller, and leveller at his farm.

Though, Mohan Singh’s journey in farming started a while ago, but his selection for quality seeds and standardise schedule for compost lead him to great success and satisfaction.

Currently Mohan Singh is living a happy farmer life in his village Devinagar Abrawan of Mohali and expanding his reach in the agriculture sector to purse sustainable agriculture in the future.

For Mohan Singh, living with his wife, two well settled sons (one is veterinary doctor and another is working successfully in the electronics field), their wives and children, farming was never a burden, he enjoys farming. He also rears 3 Murrah Buffaloes for house hold purpose and his son who is a veterinary doctor helps him taking care of them.

Message:
“Farmers should adapt new environment friendly technologies and join groups which can help them succeed in agriculture sector, rather than depending upon the subsidy. Farmer should also adopt modern farming allied activities along with crop cultivation if they want to earn double benefit and manage their finances at the time of crop loss.”

This aged retired man is an icon for millions of youth, who are running behind the glittering life of city.

Ravi Sharma

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Tailor Turned Beekeeper Creating a Medicinal Powerhouse by Expanding Apiculture

Apiculture is rising industry which is not only attracting the people of agrarian society but also people from other different communities because of the future gain. One such a person who is creating a medicinal powerhouse in his village by expanding apiculture is Ravi Sharma.

Starting from 1978, till 1992, Ravi Sharma used to tailor the clothes and also guide 10 other men under him, in the same profession in his small village Gudana of district Mohali. His tailoring business was going well in a small village shop until he visited Rajpura, Patiala and met Dr. Walia (Agri Inspector).

For Ravi Sharma, Dr. Walia acted as a pathfinder towards beekeeping; he was the one who inspired Ravi Sharma towards beekeeping and helped him in adopting it smoothly.

In the beginning, Mr. Sharma got 50% subsidy and himself he invested Rs. 5700 on 5 honeybee boxes, from which he obtained 1 ½ quintal honey and earned good profit. First earning encouraged Ravi Sharma to expand his work to 100 honeybee boxes and this is how he switched to beekeeping and dropped the profession of tailoring completely in 1994.

Visit to Rewari, Haryana in 1997 in an agricultural event, boosted up Mr. Sharma’s fascination towards beekeeping and then he decided to increase the number of honeybee boxes. Now, the bee boxes number varies from 350-400 in his farm.

In 2000, Mr. Ravi also gave a try to dairy farming with 15 cows, but it was not as successful as beekeeping. Due to labour problem, he has to end it. Now he has only 4 HF breed cows and one Murrah buffalo for home purpose and sometimes he also sells their milk in the market. In the meanwhile, beekeeping work was going smooth.

But the journey towards successful beekeeping was not that velvety. In 2007-08, a mite attacked was encountered in his beehives colonies due to which only 35 honeybee boxes were left unaffected and the rest were destroyed. This incident completely shattered the beekeeping business of Ravi Sharma.

But this fall made Mr. Ravi stronger and he rose more powerfully and established his honeybee farm successfully within a short span of time. After seeing his success many other people consulted him to start their own beekeeping business. He started distributing 20-30 honeybee boxes to his relatives and friends also and in this way he created a medicinal powerhouse.

“Once there also came a time when honeybee boxes count reached up-to 4000, and all those people who owned it, started beekeeping after seeing my success in beekeeping venture.”

Today, Ravi Madhu Makhi Farm has two workers for managing the bee farm work. Marketing is also smooth, as Ravi Sharma has a tie-up with a person who buys all the honey from him, and sometimes Ravi Sharma also sells 4-5 quintal of honey on the roadside shop near Anandpur Sahib from where he earns well.

Beekeeping is the only source of income for Ravi Sharma through which he is supporting his family of 6 members, which includes wife, mother, two daughters, and a son.

“My wife- Mrs. Gyan Devi, was the main supporting pillar in my beginning beekeeping years. Without her, I would not have reached this level in my life.”

Currently, honey and bee wax are the two main product of Ravi Madhumakhi Farm.

Future Plan:
Till now I have expanded the beekeeping work in my village and few relatives only, but in future, I want to expand beekeeping to a much larger area.

Message:
“A person should do his work with complete dedication and include these three words in his efforts “Imaandaari (Honesty), Gyan (Knowledge), Dhyan (Care)” then only he can achieve what he wants.”

Because of Mr. Ravi’s effort today Gudana village has become a powerhouse for honey production and he will keep his work in progress to make beekeeping more impactful business in the future also.

Jagdeep Singh

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HOW THIS FARMER’S THRIVING INITIATIVE IS HELPING PUNJAB TO SAY NO TO STUBBLE BURNING

Burning straw and using pesticides in an age-old practice, whose severe affects we can see today in our environment. Due to stubble burning in Haryana & Punjab, the northern parts of India is facing a drastic rise in air pollution. Air quality has worsened in the past few years and this is giving rise to many serious breathing and skin problems.

Although the government has taken many major steps to curb the problem of stubble burning, still they are not able to stop farmers from doing it. Stubble burning is becoming a huge issue in Punjab, because of lack of knowledge and awareness among the farmers. But one such a farmer who not only stopped farmers from burning their field in his region, but he also encouraged them towards organic farming is Jagdeep Singh.

Jagdeep Singh is an emerging farmer from Sangrur district of Punjab. His fondness towards his motherland and the soil, enhanced when he was just a kid. His journey as a soil lover started from his childhood. Just after his birth, his uncle adopted him, and farming was his occupation. His uncle used to take him to his farm, and this is how jagdeep’s interest increased towards farming.

With his growing age, his mind was also developing and the first priority in his mind was to pursue farming after completing his studies. After completing his 10th standard he decided to quit his studies and start helping his father Mukhtiar Singh in farming. His curiosity towards farming was escalating day-by-day, so to satisfy his needs, he started visiting Punjab Agriculture University in between 1989 to 1990. After visiting PAU, Jagdeep Singh came to know that the basic level of his farm soil is very high which is giving rise to many soil and crop issues; And to make the soil more fertile there were only two solutions either to use farmyard manure or use green manure in the fields.

To deal with this problem Jagdeep came up with a better solution, as investing in farmyard manure was costly for him. In between 1990 to 1991, he started using happy seeder with the support of PAU. By using happy seeder he was able to implant the seed in the soil, without removing the paddy straw from the field. He started using paddy straw in the form of manure in his field to increase the soil fertility. Slowly Jagdeep gathered 37 farmers under his initiative and encouraged them to use happy seeder and avoid stubble burning. He is running this drive throughout the Sangrur, under which they cover more than 350 acres of land.

“In 2014, I received an award by IARI (Indian Agricultural Research Institute) and after that, I formed a group in my village by the name ‘Shaheed Baba Sidh Sweh Shaita Group’. Under this group, we encourage farmers to stop stubble burning to deal with the deteriorating air quality problems.”

These days, he is doing farming on 40 acres of land, out of which 32 acres land is on rent. On 4 acres he is doing organic farming and on the rest of the land, he is using pesticides in very minimum quantity. His main motive is to go organic. Currently, he is living with his father, mother, wife and two sons in his village – Kanoi.

The most tempting thing about Jagdeep Singh’s personality is that he is so down to earth person, and he is always curious to learn new thing about farming. He is also very interested in rearing livestock and he has 8 buffaloes for home purpose. He uses the buffalo milk only for the home purpose and sometimes he sells them to the neighbours or villagers. With his farming and milk sale he is managing his family expenses very well and in the future, he wants to start marketing his produce himself for better profit.

Message:
“Jagdeep Singh’s message for other farmers is that they should teach their kids about farming and don’t add negative thoughts about farming in their mind, otherwise they will forget about their roots.”

Mani Kaler

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How the Scattering Fragrance of Flowers Has Established a New Potential Floriculture Hub in Punjab

Investment in floriculture is one of the flourishing career choices in which farmers are taking great interest. There are many successful established floriculturist, who are scattering the sweet fragrance of gladiolus, roses, marigold and many other flowers and are creating a new potential floriculture hub in Punjab. One of the floriculturists, who is reaping great profit out of flower and vegetable business is Mani Kaler.

Like other landlords, Kaler family also use to give their land to other framers on lease, and on a small landholding, they use to grow wheat and paddy for home purpose. But when Mani Kaler completed his education (Bachelor of Arts) he decided of stepping in the business of horticulture. Mani took back half of the land (20 acres) that was given on rent and started farming on it.

After some time, with the help of one of his relative, Mani came to know about the RTS Flower business, which is successfully run by Gurwinder Singh Sohi. So, after getting inspired by the owner of RTS Flower, Mani finally started his flower venture and started growing five to six types of flowers like petunia, barbina, and mistasium etc.

In the beginning, he also gave a try to contract farming but after facing a bitter experience with the contracted company, he decided to apart his way with them.

In the second year of flower farming, he bought seeds worth rupees 1 lakh from Gurwinder Singh Sohi. He started gladiolus farming from 2 canals and today it’s been 2 years and he has expanded the farm in 5 acres.

Currently, he is farming on 20 acres of land, out which they are using 4 acres for low tunnel farming of vegetables, where they grow bitter gourd, pumpkin, eggplant, cucumber, muskmelon, garlic (1/2 acre), and onion (1/2 acre). For the home purpose, they grow paddy and wheat. From some time they have also started preparing onion seeds.

His hard work and diversified farming technique has resulted in increased income. Till now he has taken no subsidy from the government. He manages the whole marketing on his own and sells the flowers in the market of Delhi and Kurukshetra. Although, he makes good profit from vegetable and flower farming business, still he faces some problems in flower cultivation, but he never loses his hope and always continues his work with strong determination.

Mani’s family always supports him and never stops him from whatever he wants to do in the agriculture field. Presently, he is living with his father – Madan Singh and elder brother – Raju Kaler in his village Rai Dhariana of Sangrur district. For milk purpose, he rears 7 cattle out of which 2 are Murrah buffaloes. He never compromises with the care and feed of the cattle. He himself prepares the fodder with organically grown paddy, wheat, and fodder crops. In the free time, he also processes sugarcane juice into jaggery and sells it to the villagers.

Future plans:

In the future, he is planning to expand his flower farming business.

Message
“
Nowadays, farmers are stuck in the conventional cycle of paddy and wheat. They should start thinking and doing out if this cycle if they want to earn well.
“

Lovepreet Singh

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How Booming Interest of This B.Tech Graduate, Made Him Choose Agriculture as His Full-Time Career

Meet Lovepreet Singh, a young lad with B.Tech. Degree in his hand, who instead of having a choice of doing a desk job and living a comfortable city life, choose to stay in his village to reap prosperity out of agriculture.

About 20 km towards east from district headquarters Sangrur, Kapial village is situated in Bhawani Garh tehsil, where Lovepreet Singh is living with his father, grandfather, mother and sister.

In 2008-2009, Lovepreet started organic farming of wheat on just 1 acre of land because of his growing interest in the agriculture field. Rest of the land was given on lease to other farmers, as farming was never a primary source of income for Lovpreet’s family. Moreover, Lovpreet’s father- Mr. Sant Pal Singh was settled in Dubai and had a stable income to support the family needs.

As the time passed, Lovepreet’s interest grew more and his motherland called him back. Soon after completing his degree, he thought of taking his big step towards farming. He got his land soil sample tested by Punjab Agro and took rest of his land back from the farmers.

The next crop that Lovepreet organically cultivated on his land was turmeric and along with that he also started processing it by himself. Turmeric on 1 acre and wheat-paddy on 4 acres. But adopting organic farming completely was not acceptable by Lovepreet’s family. In 2010, when his father returned from Dubai, he was against Organic Farming, because in his views organic yields less productivity. But no criticism and no bad words had the power to stir the strong determination of Lovepreet.

To increase his income, Lovepreet decided of cultivating turmeric on large basis instead of wheat. In the beginning, he faced many problems in turmeric processing, as he had no knowledge of it, but with his efforts and expert advice, he was able to achieve all the difficulties. He started using cow and buffalo dung as manure in his field to increase the productivity and quality of the crop.

After seeing the results, his father also started helping him in farming. He even contacted Punjab Agro to get his turmeric powder get organic certification and by the end of this year, he will get that. Currently, he is actively involved in turmeric farming and processing. Whenever he gets time, he visits Punjab Agriculture University and read books suggested by the experts of the university to bring positive outcome in his farming. Punjab Agro also helps him with necessary information and make him interact with other progressive farmers who are actively involved in organic farming. Other than turmeric he is also cultivating Wheat, Paddy, Maize, Bajra, but on small scale.

Future Plan:
 His future plan is to expand turmeric farming and processing work, and form a group of farmers doing organic farming. Purchase common machines for the use of the group and support farmers doing organic farming. 

Message:
“
The one message that I want to convey to the farmers is that organic farming is very important to conserve the environment. Everyone should do organic and eat organic, in this way pollution can also be reduced.
”

Sher Baz Singh Sandhu

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SHER BAZ SINGH SANDHU, BRINGING WHITE REVOLUTION IN PUNJAB WITH THE BEST BREED OF BUFFALO- MURRAH

This is the story of a man who continued his interest in dairy farming and turned it into a successful dairy business- Lakshmi Dairy Farm.

Unlike many other farmers, Sher Baz Singh Sandhu had shifted away his mind in teenage from seeking employment in private and public sectors. His interest was developed in dairy farming and the reason behind Mr. Sandhu’s affinity toward dairy farming was his mother- Harpal Kaur Sandhu.

This love towards dairy farming was a thing which was carried from the maternal side of Sher Baz Singh Sandhu by her mother. In earlier times maternal grandfather of Mr. Sandhu, had a fascination of rearing best breeds of cattle. And this fascination was later on followed by her daughter after marriage, and by seeing his mother’s interest in cattle rearing, Mr. Sandhu was also influenced by it.

In 2002, Mrs. Harpal Kaur passed away. Yes, it was a sad moment for Mr. Sandhu, but after her mother’s death he got an inspiration to pursue his interest of cattle rearing in a better way and that was when he decided of entering the dairy farming venture. Mr. Sandhu sold the old cattle and bought a new buffalo of breed Murrah from a region in Haryana in Rs. 52,000. At that time, that Buffalo used to give 15-16 kg of milk per day.

In 2003, he bought again a new buffalo of the same breed in Rs. 80,000 and this buffalo was giving 25 kg milk at that time.

Then in 2004, he bought a male calf of buffalo in Rs. 75,000, by doing a complete family background check (her mother used to give 20 kg milk and also won an award for it).
And this is how he improved the breed of his farm buffaloes and increased the number of quality buffaloes in his farm.

Once, Lakshmi his buffalo won best breed championship in the Muktsar Mela and just after that, he named his farm – “LAKSHMI DAIRY FARM”.

Not only Lakshmi but many other buffaloes and bull are there like- Dhanno, Rani, Sikander…, who made Mr. Sher Baz Singh Sandhu proud and broke records again and again by winning prizes in Kissan Melas and for milk production and breed championship.

Some of his awards and achievements are mentioned below:
• Lakshmi Dairy Farm holds national record for buffalo milk.
• Sherbaj Singh has been awarded by “State Award for excellent services in Dairy Farming” by CM S. Parkash Singh Badal
• His buffalo came first in 8th National Livestock Championship
• Awarded by Sardar Gulzar Singh in Maghi Mela
• His buffalo won 1st award in milk production competition in Muktsar (2008)
• PDFA Mela in 2008, his buffalo got 1st award
• Buffalo (Dhanno) gave 25 kg milk and broke all records (2015)
• In January his Murrah buffalo won all the prizes in Muktsar Mela (2016)
• His bull (Sikander) won 2nd prize in the Muktsar Mela.
• Lakshmi Buffalo won best breed championship
• Rani Buffalo gave 26 kg and 357 gram of milk and created a new record and won first prize.
• Dhanno Buffalo gave 26 kg milk and came second in the same competition.
• Many articles have been published in the newspaper in advisory magazine

Today, he has total 50 Buffaloes in his farms spread over 1 acres and he sells all the milk in the city to multiple stores. Mr. Sandhu prefers to grow fodder by himself, he has total 40 acres of land in which he grows wheat, paddy, and fodder.

Mr. Sandhu’s son- Barinder Singh Sandhu who is an advocate by profession and his wife- Kulwinder Kaur Sandhu, is also very supportive in managing Lakshmi Dairy Farm. His son has created an FB page by the farm name which has around 3.5 lakhs of followers and he wants to increase the number of followers to 10 lakhs till 2022-23. Because of the farm’s popularity, many people even from foreign, buy buffaloes from them.

Mr. Sandhu always tries to help the farmers with dairy farming and motivate them to progress in it. He also provides good quality semen and milk to farmers.

FUTURE PLAN: His future plan is to increase the farm area and keep only quality buffaloes and provide good quality semen and milk to farmers.

Message:
“
Nowadays farmers are more interested towards rearing foreign breeds rather than local. They think foreign breeds can make them more profit. But this is not true. Because foreign breeds need a different climate and conditions, which is not possible in India. Moreover, rearing foreign breed need more expenses than local breed, which ordinary farmers are not able to manage. Due to which, after some time farmers shift to rearing local breeds or they stop rearing cattle completely.
Farmers should understand that now good breeds are also available in India which can produce 20-25 kg of milk per day. Farmers should opt dairy farming business along with farming because it helps in increasing the income. In this way, farmers can deal with the problem of unemployment and India can progress in dairy farming.
”

Karamjeet Kaur Danewalia

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HOW A WOMAN PURSUED HER PASSION OF FARMING AFTER HER MARRIAGE AND IS LIVING THROUGH IT SUCCESSFULLY

Generally, in India, when daughters are married away and sent to their husband’s home then they get so busy in their life after marriage that they forget to think about their interest and hobbies, they just get bounded to the household chores. But one such woman who pursued her passion even after marriage and outliving it is Mrs Karamjeet Kaur Danewalia. Instead of just becoming house woman she chose to step outside the house and pursue her hobby of orchard farming.

Mrs Karamjeet Kaur Danewalia is a woman who was born raised in a typical Punjabi farmer’s family of a small village. As coming from a farming background, Mrs Karamjeet was always fascinated towards farming and had an interest in helping his father in the fields. But she never get a chance to be a helping hand to her father before marriage.

Soon she was married to Mr Jasbeer Singh, to a business class family. She never thought that after marriage she would get an opportunity to fulfil her dreams and pursue it as her profession. Just after few years of marriage, in 1975, with the support of her husband, she decided to start with the fruits orchards and give a chance to her interest. With the help of leveller machine and workers, she levelled 45 acres of land and prepared it for orchard farming. She planted kinnows in 20 acres, Plums, pear, peach, java plum, banana, naak pears on 10 acres and in the rest of the 5 acres she planted wheat in winter and cotton in summer.

Her hobby changed into passion and she decided to continue it. In 1990 she build up a pond and stored rain water in it so that, she can irrigate her orchards with it. But later on, she started fish farming in it and used it for both purpose fish farming as well as irrigation. To expand the business to one level ahead she also started preparing seedling herself.

In 2001 she created a record of Kinnow production in India. And to make the kinnow orchards business more successful, she especially went to California in 2003 to take kinnow packaging and processing training. After coming back she implanted that training and gained a huge profit from it. Since she has started kinnow farming from that year her kinnow quality is always no. 1 in district level and state level, every year. And because of her growing popularity in kinnow production, Prakash Singh Badal (Former CM of Punjab) entitled her as the Kinnow Queen in 2004

For the farming purpose, she has every type of modern technological farming equipment and machinery at her farm. Her popularity in the horticulture field has made her member of many prestigious communities and recipient of many awards. Some of them are listed below:

• Awarded First Prize in State Level Citrus Show by Agriculture Minister S. Gulzar  Ranika (2001-02)
• Awarded Desh Seva Rattan Award by Ravi Chopra by Shahee Memorial International Seva Society, Ludhiana. (2004)
• Entitled by Punjab’s Former CM- Prakash Singh Badal as Kinnow Queen in 2004
• Best Kinnow Grower Award by Agriculture Minister by S. Jagjit Singh Randhwa in 2005
• Awarded 2nd prize in state level citrus show kinnow crop (2012)
• 1st prize at district level citrus show kinnow crop (2012)
• 2nd prize district level citrus show kinnow crop (2010-11)
• 2nd Prize in state level citrus show kinnow crop (2010-11)
• Best women kinnow grower awarded by agriculture minister- S. Such Singh Langhah (2010)
• State awarded as innovative women farmer at kissan mela by PWD Minister S. Shranjit Singh Dhillon & V.C PAU, Ludhiana (2012)
• Champion Female Farmer Award for excellence in agriculture at 7th National conference on KVK at PAU, Ldh. Presented by Mr. Sharad Pawar Minister of Agriculture, Govt. Of India. (2012)
• Award of Honor in progressive women farmer on 64th Republic Day at Amritsar presented by Chief Minister, Punjab, S. Parkash Singh Badal. (2013)
• Award of appreciation in innovative contribution to Indian agriculture at global agri connect (NSFI) IARI, New Delhi presented by Dr. R.R Hanchinal, Chairperson PPUFRA, Govt. Of India, Ministry of Agriculture. (2013)
• National Awarded as Best Kinnow grower of Punjab at NRCC (National Research Centre of Citrus Nagpur) (2012)
• Bharat Jyoti Award for Meritorious Service, Outstanding Performance & Remarkable role in Agriculture presented by Dr. Bhisham Narain Singh(former governor of Tamilnadu & Assam) (2013)
• Bharat Gaurav Award as in Recognition of contribution and dedication to worthy cause and your achievement in keeping the flag of India high presented by Justice OP Verma former governor of Punjab at New Delhi. (2015)
• Zee Punjab/Haryana/Himachal Agri Award as best farmer horticulture of her outstanding contribution as a horticulturist in adoption & promotion of kinnow farming presented by Agriculture minister S. Tota Singh and Cabinet Minister S. Gulzar Singh Ranika and Mr. Dinesh Sharma editor, Zee Punjab Haryana Himachal.
• Member of PAU Kisan Club,
• Member of Punjab AGRO,
• Member of Punjab Horticulture Department,
• Member of Mandi Board,
• Member of Changi Kheti,
• Member of Kinnow Utpadak Sanstha,
• Member of Co-operative Society,
• Member of Kisan Salahkar Committee.
• Member of PAU, Ludhiana Board of Management

Despite being a recipient of so many awards and appreciation, she is always curious to learn something new and that’s why she never misses any district level agricultural events or meetings. She also regularly visits farms of the farmers who are associated with PAU and Hisar Agriculture University to learn something new from there and gain knowledge.
Today she is harvesting 130 ton of kinnows per hectare and generating revenue of 1 lakh and 65 thousand from it. From the rest of the fruit orchards and wheat and cotton crops, she is making revenue of 1 lakh each in every season.

Behind all her success, she gives credit to his husband who supported her dreams also helped her in farming all these years. Other than farming she is also contributing to a very good cause for the society; she helps in poor girls get marriage by providing financial help and other marriage material also. Her future plan is to make agriculture a more profitable commercial business.

MESSAGE TO FARMERS-
“
Farmers have to start maintaining their expenses properly and stop showing off what they don’t have. Today, agriculture field needs more attention, so young kids even daughters should also be involved and taught about this field. And everyone should remember one thing that every human being in the field of agriculture is a farmer first and then a businessman.
”

Rajpal Singh Gandhi

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RAJPAL SINGH GANDHI, REVEALING THE SWEET SECRET OF NATURE THROUGH STEVIA FARMING

Have you tasted the success sweeter than sugar? You may have not, but this income tax consultant from Banga has tasted the success 400 times sweeter than the most common sweetener, sugar, with zero calories. Yes, I’m talking about stevia farming!

Rajpal Singh Gandhi has led a movement in India and in the coming time, it is surely going to change the world’s taste.

After advising people on choosing their investment wisely for a tenure of 10 years, finally, Rajpal Gandhi thought of entering the agriculture field. Unlike the other average farmers of Punjab, Rajpal Gandhi not only had the money to start a new venture and grow natural sweetener in the sub-mountainous area in Shivalik foothills but also open a processing plant with hard research.

Well, the beginning of entering agriculture field was not that smooth for Gandhi. He started with Kinnow orchards in 2003 over 35 acres, but due to lack of marketing facilities, he was forced to reduce the crop production to half till 2008.

“I also tried planting Gladiolus, Potato, and other vegetables, but as there was no improvement in the marketing facilities, so I switched to stevia farming and that was the wisest decision that I took.”

He started stevia farming on 6 acres of land, but as there was no processing unit, so his 10 years of hard work was of no use. At last, he contacted Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, to assemble a prototype for them. And after lakhs of investments, multiple shortcomings, research and meeting of many scientists, engineers, and innovators, they came up with a sweet result.

Today, Gandhi has the only stevia research laboratory in India and it is certified by the Indian Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). By taking a soft loan from the department of biotechnology under the Ministry of Science and technology this processing plant and research centre has been established. It almost took three years to completely set up the processing unit. Dreaming and then making that dream come true was easy for Gandhi because ministry liked his innovative idea.

Today his 12-crore stevia processing plant process around 5 tonnes of stevia leaves in a shift of 8 hours, which is equivalent to the crop of 5 acres.

Starting stevia processing plant was a challenge and Gandhi turned it into an opportunity, not only for him but for many other people who are now employed just because of Gandhi’s initiative. After establishing the tissue culture laboratory and the processing unit, today Gandhi’s company is developing the more improved varieties of stevia and after its cultivation and processing, they are selling it in a powdered form in small sachets and container. Today, stevia green tea manufactured by him is booming in the market, but this is not the end.

“The expense of cultivating stevia on 1 acre is almost equal to cultivating any other normal crop on 1 acre. If anybody is interested in stevia farming then we also provide plants, and if anyone wants to do it in a large area then we also provide the technology to multiply the plants according to the area.”

Gandhi’s work has lured Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh State Government towards him. He was invited by the chief secretary of Gujarat and after that, he signed a deal to grow stevia over 2500 acres in the Aravali and Kaparganj districts with 100% buy-back clause. He also signed an agreement with Uttar Pradesh medicinal plant board Lucknow to grow this sweet plant over 4,000 acres. The increasing prosperity of Gandhi was not a small spark that would vanish in no time, but it was an explosion which attracted Punjab Ex. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal towards his work. Currently, Gandhi is in stevia promotion bureau in the state with Suresh Kumar as additional chief secretary. Not missing the chance he has already started helping the farmers in Punjab also (he is helping farmers in stevia cultivation over 25 acres in Gurdaspur, Ludhiana and Ferozepur district and slowly he will make sure that stevia cultivation area expands in Punjab by this season).

Well, these were some in-nation effects of Gandhi’s work. Even before establishing the processing plant, Gandhi visited China and South American countries like Columbia and Paraguay to know more about this plant. His visit made him sign the contract with Canadian Company Pixels Health for as much as Stevia powder Gandhi could process. Even Germans also visited his farm- Green Valley Stevia, after knowing about it.

Gandhi is also the only member from Punjab of Indian Council of Food and Agriculture, of which MS Swaminathan – “The father of Indian Green Revolution” is also a part of. In last September Gandhi was awarded by him and he declared that stevia growing was the sweet revolution for health.

In the coming time, Stevia is going to be the future crop. Japan’s 70% population has already switched to stevia and Gandhi is looking forward to investing there. Even his stevia product has also been approved by the Food and Safety Standards Authority of India in November 2015. Even Multi-National Companies like Pepsi and Coca-Cola has also launched their new products called – Zero-Calorie Pepsi and Coke-life in which they are using stevia as sweetener and Gandhi is looking forward to investing in it.

Stevia is the future crop, as the plant life is up to 5 years once they are planted; and they can be harvested every after 4 months. For farmers as well as the citizens, stevia is a profitable venture as its market value is also good and it is healthy to consume.

From a fact- India had an estimated 31,705,000 diabetics in the millennium year which is estimated to grow by over 100% to 79,441,000 by 2030.

 

Gandhi says –

“In India, there is at least one sugar patient in every family and this is an alarming situation. But if we start using stevia in place of sugar then we can reduce the increasing number of the diabetic patient.”

Gandhi is doing his part in flourishing the agriculture field with new opportunities. You can also be the part of this venture by investing in stevia farming.

Message:
“
Our main mission is wealthy farmer and healthy society. Today, the falling economic condition is the main reason that is forcing the poor farmers to commit suicide, and for these types of shameful circumstances only we are responsible. To cover the losses, crop diversification is important, farmers should grow crops like Stevia and other medicinal plants, and state government and central government should act accordingly to make their plans more effective.
”

Avtar Singh

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AFTER SWITCHING MULTIPLE PROFESSIONS, THIS FARMER FOUND PIG FARMING THE RIGHT OCCUPATION FOR HIMSELF!

Changing occupation is never easy, as it can negatively impact the lives of people who are dependent on it, especially the family members, and when this matter is concerned with a farmer’s life then the insecurity factor is just double. A new opportunity comes with both risks and benefits, the person just has to understand that what satisfies him and his needs better, because finding a meaningful work is very important. One such a farmer from Barnala District of Punjab, Mr. Avtar Singh Randhawa also changed multiple occupations and found pig farming as the right profession for himself.

Like other farmers, Avtar Singh also started wheat and paddy farming, just after completing his studies (10th) along with his father Basant Singh Randhawa. But soon he realized that his life is not meant to follow this tradition of conventional farming. So, he thought of investing in the grocery store business. He opened a shop in his village- Channa Gulab Singh, but after some time, he found out that he is not even satisfied with this profession. Someone suggested him about mushroom farming and he started that too, but he understood that it needs much investment and this venture also ended empty handed. At last, he heard from a person that pig farming is a profitable occupation and he thought that why not give it a try.

After discussing with the concerned person, Avtar joined the training conducted by PAU (Punjab Agriculture University) for Pig Farming and Pig Products Processing. In the beginning, he started with 3 pigs, and after three years of hard work, today, the count of pigs has increased to 50. When he started pig farming 3 years back, many villagers use to talk about him and his occupation. As Avtar Singh was the first one who started pig farming in his villages, so many villagers were confused and many were just analyzing that what will be the outcome of this. But after seeing the happy face and increasing profit of the Randhawa family, many villagers came up with their interest in pig farming.

“When I told my wife about the pig farming business, she was against me and she doesn’t want me to invest in it. Even my relatives also used to scold me about my work, because in their perception I was doing a low-grade work. But I was determined and this time I didn’t want to turn back and leave something in the middle.”

Today, Avtar is very happy and satisfied with his work and he also encourages other farmers of his village towards this profession. He manages the breeding work himself in his farm. Within 7-8 months he sells 80 pigs on an average and is earning good profit from it.

Currently, he is living with his son and wife, and even with this small family and little needs he used to grow paddy and wheat on his own, for home purpose. Now his wife also supports him in pig farming.

Like Avtar, there are many other farmers in Punjab who are into pig farming business and are making it a big project in the coming time. With the growing demand of pork and pig products, pig farming is going to be a booming venture in the future. Some futuristic farmers have already understood it and Avtar Singh Randhawa is one of them.

Future Plan:

Avtar is planning to make use of his training and start processing pig products. He wants to expand the Randhawa Piggery Farm to a larger extent in the future.

Message:
“With modernization, many new farming techniques and trends are coming and the farmers should be aware of it. The farmers should follow a path in which they believe, not the path that others are following.”

Nirmal Singh

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HOW PIG FARMING HAS CHANGED THE LIFE OF NIRMAL SINGH AND IS LEADING HIM IN THE DIRECTION OF PROSPERITY

In India, pigs might not be rampant pets in the households, but they are sure moneymaker when it comes to pig farming. And one of the best thing with this occupation is that you can start with little capital.

In Punjab, pig farming is booming as a popular occupation among the farmers and many people are showing interest in it. Although many people still view piggery as a low profile occupation, but now it doesn’t matter at all. Because piggery has totally changed the perspective and life of farmers in Punjab. One such a farmer who is successfully practicing piggery and generating good revenue from it is Nirmal Singh.

From the times of grandfather and great-grandfather, Nirmal Singh’s family was involved in agriculture, for them, there was no alternative occupation to earn money. But when Nirmal Singh grew up and took everything in his hand after completing his studies (12th standard), then he started dairy farming along with wheat and paddy farming. For about one and half year he did dairy farming for commercial purpose, but in December 2015, when he visited one of his friend’s marriage in Bathinda, then he came to know about pig farming. He was excited to know about it, so after the marriage, next day he visited the farm named as BT Piggery situated in Sanghera. After his visit to the pig farm, he was interested to adopt this occupation.

Before starting the piggery venture he thought of taking an expert advice and training from the experienced person, so he especially attended 5 days training given by GADVASU (Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University), Ludhiana. After taking training he started pig farming with 10 female pigs and 1 male pig. He established the piggery farm on 2 kanals area.

With increasing value of pig farming, his venture went well and today he has around 90 pigs at his farm, out of which 10 female pigs and 1 male pig that he bought in the beginning for reproduction are the same. In a month he sells around 10-12 pigs at the cost of 150 Rs/Kg for female pigs and 85 Rs/Kg for male pigs. His brother and son help him in his venture and he has kept no other worker for help. To maintain the healthy pigs, he prefers to make pig’s feed on his own; he buys the raw material from the market and processes it himself.

Today, Nirmal Singh is counted as one of the members of Progressive Pig Farmers Association, GADVASU. He also received first award, certificate and cash prize at district level in Pashudhan Championship which was held at Shri Muktsar Sahib.

Currently, he is living with his wife, a son and a daughter in his village Lubanian Wali village in Muktsar. His future plan is to expand his pig farm and start pig products processing. He also helps other farmers and recommends them this profession for better income.

Message:
“Before starting anything, training is very much important. Every farmer must take training to improve their skills, otherwise, there is a huge risk even in a simple task.”

If you are also thinking about starting pig farming business in Punjab, then this is the right time for you. Contact Apni Kheti for information regarding pig training, pig breeding or pig farming.

Davinder Singh

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How a farmer made diversified farming his path of success and is inspiring others through it.

One of the successful diversified farmer Davinder Singh from Nakodar (District Jalandhar) discussed with Apni Kheti Team that how he was motivated towards diversified farming and what other inventions he did in the field of farming to reap good profit from it.

Davinder Singh is a firm believer of the thought that – “The work done by self is important only” and today whatever he has achieved is by his hard work and hunger to do more in the field of farming. As coming from a farming background he started farming after completing his 10th and didn’t go for higher studies. He started farming with vegetables like an ordinary farmer. He already had 1.8 hectares land of his own but he also took 1 hectare on rent. The income he was generating from farming was enough to satisfy the present family needs but not that enough to think about the better future for his family.

In 1990-91 he came in contact with Punjab Agriculture University and learned about some new farming techniques which could help in generating good profit from farming without expanding the farming area. And the reason which motivated him to implement those new techniques on his farm was that it doesn’t include any hi-tech machinery or chemicals.

To expand his area of expertise he also took beekeeping training from KVK- Noor Mahal, Jalandhar and started beekeeping. This venture made him good profit and he continued it. By implementing new farming techniques like bed farming and tunnel farming, he started diversified farming.

Well, many people are doing diversified farming in Punjab, but they are limited to few crops only. Davinder Singh let his thought of wild horses run and he experimented by intercropping cabbage and onion together. This initiative of diversified farming gave him a very good yield and he harvested 375 quintals of cabbage and 125 quintals of onion in that season. Many agriculture experts got help from his farming ways in their research. He was also the first one who inter-cropped “onion, tomato, coriander” together and after that, he also inter-cropped “onion, cucumber, capsicum” and “cabbage, marigold” together.

All the crops pairing done by him for diversified farming was a great success and he made a great profit from all these inter-cropping patterns. He also received Jain Adviser State Award for his “Papaya-Eggplant & Cabbage-Onion” inter-cropping patterns.

Education never became a barrier between him and trending new farming techniques. His inquisitive mind always wanted to learn, and to satisfy the needs of his mind, he also fed his mind with appropriate knowledge. He always visited many progressive farmers of Maler Kotla to learn basics of vegetable farming and he also attended every type of meetings and camp organized by Punjab Agriculture University or Horticulture Department.

Davinder Singh’s farming ways were so better and productive that he was also awarded Surjit Singh Dhillon Award by PAU in 2010 for Tunnel Farming. He also became the member of PAU Kisan Club and Agriculture Technology Prabandh Agency- ATMA Governing Body (Jalandhar).

Well, the key to scale success in the field of farming while moving from a beginning stage is to keep your creative/innovative edge alive and Davinder Singh also did the same. He implemented drip irrigation and shower irrigation in his farm better water management. He also started using Tensiometer for paddy farming and Jantar to increase the yield of the soil.

Recently, he has started diversified farming of cucumber and water melon and is expecting great profit returns from it also. Many farmers visit his farm to see and learn from him and he also open-heartedly shares his learning with them. He wants to experiment more with diversified farming and spread his learning with other farmers so that they can also take benefit of it.

Future Plans:
For the future, he has great ideas aligned in his mind and very soon he will be implementing those also. 

Message to Farmers:
“Our land is gold and to cultivate gold out of it we have to do hard work and smart work both. We just need good farming techniques to harvest gold on our own. If we have skills then we should share it with others.”

Gurdeep Singh Brar

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A MAN’S AWAKENING TRANSITION: FROM CONVENTIONAL FARMING TO ORGANIC FARMING

The main reason behind people’s awakening is because they have finally stopped agreeing to the things that doesn’t satisfy them. It is said that when a person is evolving into something good, at that time the road may seem lonely but you are simply shedding the things and habits that no longer is required. One such person who went opposite of the society’s trend and gone through an awakening transition of conventional to organic farming is Mr Gurdeep Singh Brar.

Gurdeep Singh Brar is a resident of village Mehma Sawai , District Bathinda. 17 years back a huge transition phase came into Mr Gurdeep’s life which totally changed his views and methods of farming. Today, Mr Singh is a successful and well known organic farmer in Bathinda. And his earning is also very good as compared to the other farmers who are practicing conventional farming.

Before doing organic farming, Gurdeep Singh Brar was an ordinary farmer who used to do the same thing that he saw while growing up all his childhood. He had only 2 acres of land on which he was farming and his income was only hand to mouth.

In 1995 he came in contact with the experts of Farmer Salahkar Seva Kendra. There he discussed all his farming related doubts with them and found out all the solutions and answers of it. He also get associated with the experts of KVK Bathinda branch. After sometime the experts of Farmer Salahkar Kendra motivated him to make a small kitchen garden in 1 canal of area by providing him a vegetable seed kit. When the kitchen garden idea went successful then he expanded the 1 canal area to 2 canal and started generating good produce of vegetables out of it.

In 1999, just after 4 years he came in touch with Ambuja Cement Foundation, he co-operated with them and visited many different farms…

Some of them are:
• Nabha Organic Farm
• Bhagat Puran Singh farm in Ganga Nagar.
• Organic Farm

This whole series of visit to different farms inspired him towards organic farming. And after that he also started growing seasonal fruits along with vegetables. He uses organic method for seed treatment, traps for pest control and also prepare organic manure. For seed treatment he uses Neem Water, Cow Urine (Gau Mutr), mixture of Lime Stone Water and Asafetida water mixture. He also uses Jivamrit (made by him at home) to make vegetable yield more healthy and chemical free. For pest attack prevention he uses sour buttermilk (Lassi made by him) in his fields. He is also very conscious towards the water management so for irrigation he uses drip irrigation system.

Gurdeep Singh has also established a vermi-compost unit at his farm so that he can provide pure organic manure to the vegetables and fruits. He has made two holes of 1 canal each, where he decomposes cow dung, buffalo dung, and poultry manure.

Along with farming he also prepares seed of pumpkin, bitter gourd and ridge gourd himself at home, which completely end his need of buying vegetable seeds from the market. To increase the quantity and quality if the pumpkin, he especially uses rope mesh to give pumpkin vines proper support.

Today his vegetable are so popular that people from Bathinda, Goniana Mandi and other nearby villages visit his farm especially to buy vegetables. When it comes to marketing the vegetables, then he is never dependent on any third person. He himself sell his produce by making 500 grams of packets and in current date he is earning good profit out of it.

For his farming techniques and methods he is awarded with many local awards and he also has membership of many farming societies and organization. In 2015, he received Surjit Singh Dhillon Award from PAU. Reaching up to this level for a man who never went to school, is really considerable. Currently he is living with his mother, wife and son in his village. His future plans is to continue organic farming and provide health and chemical free food to the community.

Message Given To Farmers:
“
 Today cancer like disease is spreading among the people is because of chemicals being used by the farmers. I’m not saying that farmers shouldn’t use fertilizer and pesticide, but they should reduce its use and switch to organic farming. In this way they can stop the soil and water pollution and can also prevent cancer like deadly diseases.
”
These are some of his inventions
pic1_en

Khushdeep Singh Bains

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HOW A 26-YEAR-OLD BOY DISCOVERED THE REAL JOY OF HIS LIFE IN VEGETABLE FARMING

India holds the second largest agricultural land in the world and its impact on Indian economy is huge. But still, today, if we ask the youngsters about their future plan, then very few, will be there who will say farming or agribusiness.

A 26-year-old boy from Harnampura, Ludhiana- Khushdeep Singh Bains, who after working for 2 years in two different companies decided to switch to farming, and today he is growing only vegetables in 28 acres of land.

Well, what made Khushdeep leave his good-earning comfortable job and start farming? It was Khushdeep’s interest towards agriculture.

Khushdeep Singh Bains comes from a family background where his father- Mr. Sukhwinder Singh, mainly used to do real estate work, and for home purpose wheat and paddy farming on a small scale. Khushdeep’s father always wanted his son to do a comfortable job where he will be given a chair and desk to work, he never thought of making his son work in the sun and soil. But when Khushdeep quit his job and started farming at that time his father was completely against his decision, because in his perception, farming is an occupation which needs huge labour and it is not a work that qualified and literate people should do.

But to change any negative opinion you just need a powerful positive result, and this is what Khushdeep came up with.

How it started…

When Khushdeep was working in Eastman at that time he used to prepare seedlings and this is when he was more attracted towards farming. After working for 1 year and 8 months he switched his job and started working with UPL Pesticides, but there also he only survived for 2-3 months. He was not satisfied with his work and he wanted to do something more. So, after working for 2 years in Eastman and UPL- Pesticide Company, Khushdeep decided of starting vegetable farming.

He started with pumpkin, ridge gourd and okra by planting it in half acre each, he used pesticides and the harvest was more than his imagination. Slowly he started expanding the farming area and vegetable types. He started growing every type of vegetable, whether it is in-season or out-of-season. He also signed the contract with Pagro Foods Ltd. for pea and sweetcorn farming and gained huge profit from them. Later on, in 2016, he planted paddy, beans, potato, onion, garlic, peas, capsicum, cauliflower, mung beans, and basmati turn wise on the same land.

Along with farming, Khushdeep also started preparing seeds and seedlings of garlic and many other crops and this side work benefited him a lot. From last three years, he is displaying his seed preparation work in PAU Ludhiana Kisan Mela and is getting an overwhelming response every time.

Today Khushdeep’s father and mother, both are proud of their son’s achievements. Khushdeep himself is very happy with his work and is also encouraging other farmers toward it. Currently, he is making a good profit from vegetable farming and his future plan is to start his own nursery and food processing business.

Message to farmers:
“Farmers shouldn’t be dependent on the third person for their marketing, they should do their work on their own. There is one more thing that farmers should keep in mind and that is they should never follow anything by seeing anyone, they should do what they feel from inside.
The farmer should also think about doing diversified farming and they should grow more than one crop because in case one crop gets damage then at least there is the second crop to support you. Consult one to two experts every time and after that start your new venture.”

Kulwant Kaur

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“Behind every successful woman is herself”
– How Kulwant Kaur proved this quote absolutely true

In India there are many women who have extraordinary personalities, not citing the looks but their skills and confidence are what makes them amazing from the others. Nothing can stop them from accomplishing what they aim at, and the reason behind their unique persona is that they are the inspiration of themselves.

One such a woman who realized the calling and chose agribusiness as her future plan is Kulwant Kaur. As being from a farming background, Kulwant Kaur and her husband Jaswinder Singh were doing paddy and wheat farming and were also actively involved in dairy farming. From the beginning, family’s main focus was on dairy business, because they owned 2.5 acres of land and used to take land on the lease when necessary. With 30 buffaloes in the dairy farm, their milk business was flourishing very well and was more profitable as compared to farming.

Kulwant Kaur was very interested in agriculture and the trades related to it, and one day when she read about KVK Fatehgarh Sahib then she decided of joining it. She took fruit and vegetable management training of 5 days from there in 2011. On the last day of the training, she participated in a competition and won first prize in making apple jam and turmeric pickle. The first prize that she won there was her first achievement in her life, and this achievement made her so determined and inspired that she decided to start this work on her own. Her products were so good that soon she gained a good customer base.

Gradually her work speed, efficiency, and product quality got better with the time and turmeric pickle became the most in demand product of her. Later on, to enhance her skills she joined KVK Samrala for Phenyl, Soap, Amla Juice, Chutney and Pickle training. To make her training in use, she especially visited Delhi to purchase Amla juice machine. Very soon she grasped the technique of making aloe-vera juice, shampoo, gel, and hand wash from the same machine and after seeing the processed products she was enthused and gained confidence.

It was her confidence and achievements which always motivated Kulwant Kaur in doing more. Finally, Kulwant Kaur started manufacturing products at home and also marketed them herself. Her interest towards agribusiness drifted her more towards this field. In 2012 she became the member of PAU Kisan Club. And after that, she took every training given by them. Her interest towards farming was increased and slowly they reduced their dairy farm work.

Besides Paddy and wheat, now, Kulwant Kaur and her husband started growing mung beans, sugarcane, fodder crop, turmeric, aloe-vera, tulsi and stevia also. From turmeric, she is producing turmeric powder, turmeric pickle, and Panjeeri (sweet dry powder mixture made up of Bengal Gram Chickpea powder, Flour, and Clarified butter). Panjeeri and turmeric pickle are her most in demand products.

Well her journey was not that easy, she faced many problems also. She planted 1000 stevia plants out of which only half survived. As she knew that stevia cost is very expensive (Rs 1500/Kg) due to which it out of reach for common people. So, she found out a different way of selling it, she bought green tea from the market and mixed stevia in it and started selling it at Rs. 150 per 100 grams. Because of the stevia’s health benefits for diabetic patients, the tea was purchased by many local homes and other customers also.

Currently, she is manufacturing around 40 products and is selling it in the nearby market and in PAU fairs. She also has a product called Satras (made up of Tulsi, apple vinegar, honey, ginger, garlic, aloe-vera, garlic, and amla) especially for heart patients and it is very effective also.
Along with the skills, Kulwant Kaur also likes to be updated with all the latest farming machinery and equipment. She has all the farming machinery and, she uses laser leveller to level the fields. Her whole family is helping her and is working with her especially her husband. Her daughter is doing government job and her son is helping her in the business. Currently, the main focus of the family is towards marketing and less on agriculture. Her efforts in the agribusiness field have made her won first prize in Kisan Mela (Patiala) for turmeric products. Besides this, she also received Sardarni Jagbir Kaur Grewal Memorial Award at Kisan Mela (organized by Punjab Agriculture University Ludhiana in 2013)

Today whatever Kulwant Kaur has achieved that is only because of her own belief. In future, she wants to market all her products herself. She also wants to impart training to other women in the society so that they can stand on their own and be independent.

Message to farmers:
“Ladies should be productive in their free time because this helps in managing the home finances effectively. They should take advantage of the food processing training and step forward in the field of agribusiness. Agribusiness is a very profitable venture in which people can make money without any big investments.”

Baljit Singh Kang

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TEACHER TURNED ORGANIC FARMER BRINGING REVOLUTION IN THE FIELD OF ORGANIC FARMING

Meet Baljit Singh Kang from – a teacher turned into an organic farmer. Organic farming was not the principal idea for which Mr. Kang get early retirement from his teaching profession. It was his kids for whom he took early retirement and along with that he also started farming.

Baljit Singh Kang always wanted to do something different and not be a part of monotony and old traditions, and he found that something different in organic farming. Farming was not the primary occupation of his family, as his father and brother were already settled in abroad. But Baljit wanted to do something great by staying in his own country.

Just after completing his M.A. in Punjabi, Baljit got a job in school as a teacher. After working for some times as a teacher he opened his own restaurant from 2003 to 2010. In 201o he decided to quit restaurant business and start organic farming. In 2011, he got married and after some time he was blessed with two beautiful children, a daughter and a son. Daughter is now 4 year old and son is 2 year old.

Earlier he was using chemicals on a low scale, but in later he turned towards organic. He sowed maize crop in 1-acre of land. But everyone in his village was making fun of him because he planted maize in winters. Baljit was so determined and confident that he never let the bad words and negativity affect him. When harvesting time came, at that time he harvested 37 quintals of maize and that was above his imagination. The harvested produce encouraged him to expand the framing work and he took 1.5-acre land more on the lease.

Shifting from chemical to organic farming was a huge step for Baljit, but he never looked back. He started growing vegetables on 6 acres of land. On his farm, he grew every type of fruit trees and he has also established vermi-compost plant which benefits him a lot. He hires no extra labour for his work and is earning well from organic farming.

Future Plans:
Currently, he is growing mustard, basmati, wheat, and vegetables at his farm in 6 acres of land. In future, he wants to partner with Kheti Virasat Mission to market his products on his own.
Message to farmers-
“Farmers should start working themselves and stop depending on the third person for marketing. The second thing that farmers should understand is for better future organic farming is the only solution. Farmers should stop using chemicals and start adopting organic farming.”

Amrik Singh Dhillon

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Know how the tricks of this smart farmer are proved beneficial in farming

It is said that often needs and compulsions take people towards new inventions and likewise new discoveries are possible.

Today we are going to talk about one such person, who understood the basic necessity and needs and invented useful things by applying his new-new hacks and tricks- Amrik Singh Dhillon.

Amrik Singh Dhillon is a residence of village Giyana, Tehsil Talwandi (Bathinda). His father (Sardar Molan Singh) inherited the occupation of farming from his ancestors and after seeing him, Amrik Singh also started showing interest in farming. They have a total of 14 acres of land on which they do conventional farming.

As he was interested in farming from his childhood, so in 2000 he quit his studies after completing his 10th and decided to help his father in farming. Along with that he also started working on his friend’s mobile repair shop in his free time. But after some time he realized that education till 12th is necessary because it’s a primary education that everyone should must attend and it also helps the person to gain confidence. So, he completed the education till 12th from private school.

From childhood, he used to find a different, easy and efficient way to do all the work, because of this reason the villagers use to call him “JUGADU”. He used this same skill again after growing up as an adult with his friends and made a lot of beneficial tools for the farmers. (Jugadu- a person who finds low-cost solution to any problem in an intelligent way).

The process of making the tool started at that time when one day he was sitting in a mobile repair shop with his friend and suddenly an idea pop up in his mind of making a tool to protect motorcycle from being stolen. In a few days, he created a device by applying his gimmick that does not allow a motorcycle to move even after breaking the lock or using a fake key, and along with that it also gives a ring on the phone of the bikes owner. The success of this device inspired him more.

He continued his work even further. When he heard the news about theft of transformer, then an idea suddenly came into his mind and he thought that like motorcycle he can also make a device which will protect transformer from being stolen. And at last he succeeded in this initiative also, which gave a great relief to the farmers.

In his area, there are frequent power cuts and many times people are not even aware when power is back. After understanding this problem, he again used his smart brain and prepared a device, which calls on the phone when power is back.

Farmers are appreciating and liking the equipment very much and because of their affordable cost many farmers are also purchasing it for their own use.

According to him, he don’t make any plans before making any equipment, but equipment are needed according to the requirement, and he is working on it and in future also he will continue to make such tools to meet the need of the common people.

Harjinder Kaur Randhawa

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How this 60-Year-Old Woman Established the Foundation of a Mushroom Farming Business in Amritsar and Her Sons made it Successful

Where people in Punjab are still stuck in the cycle of conventional farming, there are some farmers who are breaking this cycle and are bringing innovative farming trends which are helping in saving the nature’s essential resource like water.

This is a story of a family’s effort! Randhawa Family is from the holy city of Punjab- Amritsar, which is known for its amazing cuisine, culture and serene Golden Temple surrounded by Amrit Sarovar (holy water pond). This family is not only bringing revolution in mushroom farming but also encouraging other farmers toward modern and profitable farming trends.

Harjinder Kaur Randhawa is the famous mushroom lady of Amritsar. She started mushroom cultivation just as a side work or we can say it was her hobby, but who knew that Mrs. Harjinder’s hobby will be transformed into a successful business by her sons in the coming future.

So how it get started…
As being the wife of Rajinder Singh Randhawa who was serving in Punjab Police in eighties-nineties, there was no shortage in the house that would have made Mrs. Harjinder Kaur insecure to look for an alternate money earning source.

How a housewife’s interest laid the foundation for the family’s future…
But in 1989, Harjinder Kaur thought of doing something different and utilize her free time in an efficient manner, so she started mushroom cultivation in the veranda of her house. She had no training before starting mushroom cultivation, but her dedication brings the true colors to her work. Slowly she expanded her mushroom cultivation work and started making processed food items of mushroom.

When the sons became the mother’s support….
When her sons grew up and were done with their studies, then three (Manjeet, Mandeep and Harpreet) out of four sons decided of helping their mother and become helping hand in the mushroom farming business. All the three sons especially went to Directorate of Mushroom Research, Solan for training. From there they learn about growing different varieties of mushroom like button, milky, and oyster. They also attended other vocational training given by Punjab Agriculture University on Mushroom Farming. While the third son (Jagdeep Singh) was more interested towards farming other crops and later on he went to Australia and started sugarcane and banana farming.

As time passed, Harjinder Kaur’s sons keep on expanding the mushroom farming work and they also started preparing processed mushroom products like Pickles, Papad, Powder, Vadiyaan, Namkeen and Biscuit for commercial purpose. On the other hand, Mr. Rajinder Singh Randhawa also joined the mushroom farming business along with other family members after retirement.

Today Randhawa family is a successful mushroom producer and mushroom products, manufacturers. From seed preparation to marketing, the family members do everything themselves. After Harjinder Kaur, the other member who took the business more seriously and worked towards expanding is Mandeep Singh (2nd son) he especially manages all the manufacturing and marketing part. Mainly he functions through their shop (Randhawa Mushroom Farm) which is situated at Batala-Jalandhar Road.

The other two son (Manjeet Singh & Harpreet Singh) also plays a very important role in running the Randhawa Mushroom Farm, they manage the mushroom farming, harvesting and other work related to the business.

Although the sons of the family are now managing all the work, still Harjinder Kaur participates very actively and personally visit the farming and manufacturing location and guide the other people working on it. She is the main person who takes cares of the hygiene and quality of the product manufactured by them.

How Harjinder Kaur wants to see her third generation in the coming future…

“I want my third generation (grandchildren) should also be the part of our business. Some of them who are  big enough to understand what is going on, has already started showing interest in the mushroom cultivation business. We are also planning to send our grandson (SO- Manjeet Singh, currently studying in 10th) to go for higher studies in mushroom research and do Ph.D. in it.”

Setting mark in the market…
Randhawa Mushroom Farm has already marked their presence on a large scale in the market with their quality produce. Currently, 70% of the produce (fresh mushrooms and processed mushroom food items) are sold through their shop and the rest of the 30% are sent to vegetable markets of nearby big cities like Jalandhar, Amritsar, Batala, and Gurdaspur.

As they are growing three varieties of mushroom Milky, Button and oyster so the revenue is pretty good. On all the three variety the investment is less and income is between Rs 70 to 80 per kg (raw mushrooms). Button mushroom crops take 20 to 50 days to get ready for harvesting, whereas Oyster (Nov-April) and Milky (May-Oct) takes 6 months to get ready for harvesting. Due to their crops readying and harvesting time their business is never out of season.

Randhawa Family…
The whole family including daughter-in-laws are very much involved in the business and they prepare all the products themselves at home. The second son – Mandeep Singh is serving one more profession other than handling the marketing department of their family business, he is working as a reporter in Jagbani Newspaper since 2007 and covers the Amritsar district. Sometimes in his absence, Mr Rajinder Singh Randhawa takes care of the shop.

Nowadays, the government and agriculture department is encouraging farmers towards farming crop that requires less water, and mushroom is one of those crops which doesn’t need water is the huge quantity for irrigation. So by seeing their effort in the mushroom cultivation, Randhawa family has been awarded district level award two times and tehsil level awards many times in events and fairs. Recently (10th September 2017) Randhawa family efforts have also been appreciated nationwide by Directorate of Mushroom Research, Solan, where they were awarded National Award.


MESSAGE FOR FARMERS

Randhawa family believes in being together and their message is the most unique and inspirational message for farmers.

 “The family which stays together achieves success very easily. Nowadays farmer should understand the power of unity and instead of dividing their land and property among the family members they should live and work in unity. One more thing that farmer should start is self-marketing because it is the easiest way to earn confidence and earn the right price of your harvest.

 

”

Kaushal Singh

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HOW THIS YOUNG STUDENT FARMER OF GURDASPUR IS SETTING GOALS FOR OTHER YOUNGSTERS IN THE FIELD OF FARMING

This young student of Gurdaspur is unlike other student, he is not the one who chose farming because his father use to do that and he had no other option left, but he chose farming as an alternate learning option along with his studies.

Meet Kaushal Singh an aspiring student who in the bright young age of 22 has setup his own agri-business. Yes, just 22, in this blooming age where most of the youngsters are still confused with their career option, Kaushal Singh has made up his own product of brand name “CANE FARMS” and he is also marketing the products in the market.

Kaushal, comes from a family of Zamindars (landlords), and they use to give their land on rent to other farmers. Earlier their ancestors use to do farming but as the time passed the next generation prefer to go away from farming, but who knew that the youngest generation of the family will start his journey with farming again.

Well the journey of Kaushal Singh up to “CANE FARMS” was not that clear and easy. Like other youngsters of Punjab, Kaushal Singh also had plans to go abroad to his elder brother after completing his school (12th). Even his Visa for Australia was also ready, but at the end moment the whole family was hit by a very sad news. Kaushal Singh’s mother was detected with cancer, due to which Kaushal cancelled his plan of going abroad.

Although Kaushal’s mother didn’t survived cancer but then he decided to do something productive by staying in India in his home town only. In all the hard times Kaushal never lost his hope and connectivity with studies. He enrolled himself in B.Sc. Agriculture and thought that

“I thought that we have enough money and 12 acres of land here in Punjab, so why not utilize it properly.”

So he took back his land from the renters and started farming sugarcane organically. In 2015 he produced Jaggery and Jaggery Powder out of Sugarcane. As he had no knowledge in the beginning about marketing so he started selling it openly without any packing and branding. But Kaushal faced a huge loss in this venture.

But as it said that nothing can stop the flying heart. So Kaushal decided of partnering with his friends- Harinder Singh Rear. Along with him Kaushal cultivated sugarcane in 10 acres of land and Harinder in 20 acres. This time Kaushal was very cautious and he took expert advice from Dr. Ramandeep Singh- Agribusiness Expert in Punjab Agriculture University.

Dr. Ramandeep Singh inspired Kaushal and he told Kaushal to start packing and branding his product before selling it in the market. Kaushal did the same, he started selling his product from his nearby village markets. He faced failure and success both, some shopkeepers happily accepted his product but some didn’t. But slowly Kaushal set his feet strongly in the market and he started getting good response.

Kaushal decided his brand name SWEET GOLD before getting it registered but later on he changed the name to CANE FARMS because of the unavailability of the name.

Today Kaushal and his friend is managing everything on their own- from farming to marketing and they are selling their product in the whole Punjab. They also have designed a logo for their brand. Earlier they were buying box and stickers from the market, but now Kaushal has started doing everything at his own level.

Future Plan

In future we are planning to take every organic farmer along with us in our venture to sell the products. So that other farmers who are unaware of our brand, can know about the modern agribusiness trends and take advantage of it.

For Kaushal this is just the beginning and in the future also he is going to come up with more bright ideas to take out more profit from agriculture.

MESSAGE FOR FARMERS:
“Those young farmers in the age group of 18-20, who thinks that farming is a losing deal, this message is for them- They need to understand what farming is, because if they also start thinking indicatively like us, they can also work unitedly with us.”

Shahnaz Qureshi

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Woman Revealing the Mysteries of Healthy Food through Food Processing and Agribusiness

There are very few compassionate people who like to think for the welfare of the society and direct their future on the path of agriculture because making profit from the path related to agriculture it is not that easy. But there are many opportunities in our surrounding, that we just have to learn to seize it. One such woman who came with her innovative dreams and thinking to devote her life to the field of agriculture and agribusiness is Mrs. Shahnaz Qureshi.

Despite getting married at a very young age, Shahnaz Qureshi never stopped dreaming. After marriage, she continued her studies and completed her graduation and also did M. Sc. in fashion designing. She got many job offers from abroad but she chose to stay in her country and do something good for her society.

During all this time, one of the instance that changed her perception towards the food quality and her future plans was her parent’s health. Both, her mother and father were suffering from common health issues like arthritis, diabetes and kidney problem. She thought that if food is the reason behind problems, then food will be the only cure. She changed the food habits of her family and started eating only good and fresh things. This habit made a huge difference in the health of her father and mother. Just after seeing huge improvement she decided of entering the food processing business. Moreover, sitting idly was not what she was made for, so she chose to step in the field of agribusiness and help unprivileged farmers.

Her decision of stepping in the field of agribusiness was just the first step of success and rest the whole Bathinda knows about her. She and her family took training from KVK Bathinda in beekeeping and started beekeeping business with 200 honey bee boxes. She did the marketing and her husband did the processing part. To take more advantage of this business she also started making face wash, soap, and body scrub of honey. Customers start liking it and approached her for more. After some time she also took training in vegetable/fruit farming and food processing and started implementing it by making chutney, murraba, and pickles.

There was also a time when even her husband criticized her for the work she was doing, because he was unsure about the business profit, moreover he also thought that these products are already available in the market, then why people are going to buy these things from them. But she never got demotivated, because her children’s support was always with her. Some great personalities who always inspired her are APJ Abdul Kalam, Bill Gates, Akbar and Swami Vivekananda. In free time she loves to read books about them.

With the time she increased her collection of products and started gaining good profit from it. And soon she also started making fruit squashes, gram flour badiyaan and pakode and many other things. Sprouted fenugreek pickle is one of her popular products which is always in demand because of its amazing health benefits in most of the fairs and events organized by PAU in Faridkot, Ludhiana, and other places. She made a different place for her products in the market and gained a huge loyal customer base.

In 2014 she made a farmer self-help group in Mehma Sarja village near Bathinda and through this group she promoted other farmer’s products. Sometimes she even overlooked her profits just to help and support farmers who lacked confidence and resources. In 2015 she made a firm by the name FRESH HUB and there she started selling her products. Today, she has total 40-45 products in the collection, which she buys, process, pack and market herself. She is making all these efforts just to ensure the purity and healthiness of the products so that there will be no side-effects on the customer’s health. Even when she prepare pickles, she never uses cheap vinegar and always uses apple vinegar to ensure the best quality.

In 2016 she also took vinegar training and very soon she will be implementing that too. Currently, she is making 10 lakh profit annually. One thing that she understood very early and implemented was to deliver always the quality, not the quantity or just the taste. For marketing, she is using the latest technology like Whats App to connect with the farmers and other necessary details. Before purchasing, she always makes sure that she purchases chemical free vegetables and also encourages farmers to start organic farming. Her work not only includes processing and marketing the products, but she also provides free information about her technique to other women, because she wants other people to progress and do something good for the community.

From the beginning, Shahnaz Qureshi’s mindset was very clear towards her work. She wants everyone in the society to be independent and confident. She has given her children an upbringing that they don’t have to spread their hands in front of anyone, they should be self-sufficient to fulfil their basic needs themselves. Today her main focus is towards the youth especially the girls. To make her thinking and skills reach more people, she has also given training and information through TV, newspaper, and radio. She personally visits the farmer training events and meetings to especially impart her skills to them. In 2016 she also started tiffin service for college students. Today, her work has made her so popular that she has her own radio show that is aired every Friday from 1 PM to 2 PM, where she gives tips to people about water management, health food recipes and much more.

As being a Kashmiri by birth, Shahnaz always tries to bring an essence of her native place in her work and products. She has opened a restaurant in Bathinda by the name “Shah’s Kashmiri and Mughlai Chicken” and is also planning to give a rustic Kashmiri interior and use Kashmiri crockery set in her restaurant, even she also has a popular product known as Kashmiri Kahwa (Tea) which reflects the core of Kashmiri tradition and cuisine. She wants to share every healthy, beneficial and traditional recipe that she knows through her products, restaurants, and training. She also has orchards in Kashmir, which is under the care of her cousin in her absence. In orchards she follows organic ways to nurture it, to maintain the soil fertility and get a good yield from it.

These are just a few achievements of Shahnaz Qureshi, in the coming future, she will accomplish more to work in the interest of the society. Her efforts are admired by many organizations and she was awarded by the food processing department of Muktsar Sahib. Other than that in 2015 she was also awarded Jagbir Kaur Memorial award by PAU.

MESSAGE TO FARMERS
“
Don’t blame the government all the time. Because the problems which we are facing today, for that only we are responsible. Nowadays farmers are not aware how to take advantage of the opportunities. Because if farmers want to move ahead then they have to change their thinking. Moreover, it is not necessary to follow, you can be the inspiration for others. Farmers have to understand that food processing has more money than raw material.
”

Gurwinder Singh Sohi

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Young Agripreneur Booming In Floriculture Business by Blossoming Holland Gladiolus in Punjab

It is said that success is not that easy to attain, you have to taste failures many times, only then you can enjoy the real flavor of success. Same was the case with Gurwinder Singh Sohi- a normal student who opted farming when he wasn’t able to crack the Punjab JET Exam.

He was determined from the beginning that he was not going to act like a sheep and start his family occupation of wheat-paddy cultivation. So, he started mushroom farming, but it was not that successful, soon after that he setup his own sweet shop in the nearby town- Khamano. But maybe he was not meant for that also, so he took up the profession of horse breeding and later on he shifted his profession to jeep customizing.

After leaving all these jobs, in 2008, he came to know about a news that, Punjab Horticulture Department is giving subsidy on Holland Gladiolas Seeds and then the real game started for Gurwinder Singh Sohi. He started growing Gladiolas in 2 Kanals and gradually started adding more acres under the same flower. He started getting a higher price than the local variety of flower and his revenue also got increased.

The area got increased from eight acres to 18, of which 9 were his own and nine were on lease. He used 12 acres out of the total for gladiolus, 3 acre for marigold and the rest for pulses, paddy (mainly basmati), wheat, maize, and cattle fodder. The sowing (September-October) to harvesting (January- March) time of gladiolus is 7-8 months, while paddy and wheat have just opposite sowing and harvesting pattern, so the same land gives him revenue round the year. Moreover, these gladiolus are sold as Rs 7 per stick in wedding season and Rs 3 on an average. In this way, he has secured his income around the year.

Gladiolus crop is just like reaping treasure because the seeds of Holland variety are a one-time investment of 1.6 lakh per acre- which is later sold at Rs 2 per bulb and from that crop next year plants can also be prepared. Although it’s a one-time investment, it requires large workforce while sowing and seed extraction from Feb-April and labour almost cost is up to Rs 40,000 an acre.

The marigold field is also rewarding and it generates profit around Rs. 1.25 lakh to Rs 1.3 lakh every season. And this revenue is far better than wheat and paddy. All-n-all after taking out the land lease, labour and another input cost, he is left with the half of the total profit, and that is good enough.

His startup is with the name of RTS Flowers and it is booming in many cities of Punjab like Chandigarh, Ludhiana, and Patiala. However, he didn’t pursued his higher studies but time-to-time he up-skills himself to become a pro in marketing and today he is selling his gladiolus produce across the country through his firm’s Facebook Page and other online websites like India-mart.

With the coming modern marketing skills and advancement, Gurwinder has also updated himself about the term agri-marketing, and his work is in progress on the concept of farm-to-fork. He and his 12 friends have installed drip irrigation, solar pumps and other agriculture equipment with the help of government departments, and has also setup a Friends Farmers Welfare Club which has a membership of Rs. 5000 each so that in future they can buy other machinery like rotavator, power spray, and seed drill. And to promote organic farming the members of the group has also started growing turmeric, pulses, maize and basmati organically. And to expand their market of the organic food industry, they have started marketing the produce directly to the customers through Whats App groups. And to ensure that the customer and farmer both get the fair deal, they directly market their produce to 30 homes in Mohali and soon they will be staring their service through website also.

Recently, they have also started a company named as Akal Farmers Producer Company Limited and all the crops produced by farmers are packed and sold under this company. They have total 20 types of products like moong bean, black gram, chickpea, honey, Kidney beans, mustard oil, turmeric, 4 types of flour, Squashes, Garam Masala, Lassi Masala etc. and to expand the business they have also opened a shop in their village for selling the products and farmers income has increased by this. Besides this Gurwinder Singh Sohi also organizes farming, Horticulture and KVK camps on his farm to motivate other farmers.

Gurwinder Singh Sohi’s young mind hasn’t stopped dreaming and soon he will be coming up with more bright ideas to chase.

MESSAGE TO FARMERS
“Farmers should work in unity by making small groups, because buying and using farming machinery in this way is easy. By using machines in a group the expenditure get reduced resulting into a profitable venture. I’m also doing the same, I have also made a group in which we buy machines by the group names and all the members of the group can use it.”

Prabhjot, Shaminder and Sourav

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Story of Three Microbiologists Who Are Emerging as a Group of Entrepreneurs to Deliver the Best Food Experience to the Society

We all know that every successful business starts with a struggle to reach the pinnacle and nothing can be achieved easily. Behind every start-up business, there are sparkling ideas, late night discussions, arguments with close ones, thought processing, and much more. If we say that he is intelligent or he is financially sound, that’s why he is able to start a good business, then it is not true. We all have the same opportunities and we all are surrounded by great business ideas, we just have to open ourselves and let the possibilities come near us. Today, we are going to talk about three young men who discovered opportunities from their surrounding and are coming as a group of emerging entrepreneurs.

Three young students of PAU who came up with a belief of delivering the best food experience not as businessmen but as microbiologists are – Prabhjot Singh Khanna, Shaminderjeet Singh Brar, and Sourav Singla. And to give their idea a face and direction, they founded their company by the name MICRO FOODS in 2015 in Ludhiana, Punjab.

Well, yes it was a group effort by three of them, but the main inspiration behind their start-up were their professors – Dr. Sanjeev Kapoor and Dr. Ramandeep Singh. After completing their studies and research work in the field of fermented vinegar, all the three founders (Prabhjot, Shaminderjeet and Sourav) finally begin with their venture. They all three decided the company name and designed the logo.

While doing their research work, they already had a lot of work experience and knowledge of many leading fermentation and vinegar industries. So they started with the process of making organic vinegar by using natural fermentation techniques from natural fruits; that too without using synthetic acid or artificial ingredients. They set up their business manufacturing unit in 500 yards of area in Prabhjot’s home premises. And one thing that they are especially taking care of is the hygiene level of their manufacturing unit and aseptic conditions.

They started producing 4 types of vinegar made up of Apple, Java Plum (Jamun), Sugarcane, and White Grapes, under the brand name FRUIGAR. The idea behind choosing FRUIGAR as their vinegar name is that FRUI comes from Fruit and GAR come from Vinegar. They ordered raw material (fruits) from South India. The reason behind choosing these fruits for making vinegar is that all these have major health benefits and have very high demand in the market. Moreover, they are organic, so they are not going to hurt human body internally.

After making their product, they came up with the marketing plan. They started marketing their product on the basis of data that they used in their research. They also tried to cover all the doctors and introduce them with their organic fruit vinegar health benefits. Their main motive behind making fruit vinegar was to provide healthy produce to the community without any artificial ingredients.

These young entrepreneurs didn’t stop there, they also came up with two new products, known as Gluten Free Flour and Flour for the Diabetic Patient, which is very in demand nowadays. Coming from a farming background, Shaminderjeet Singh (one of the founders) cultivates wheat and paddy and also provides the raw material for their new product.

They are doing this work from past two years and slowly they are trying to establish their product in the market. Currently, they are making no profit, nor are they having loss, but in this short span of time, they have made a good number of loyal customers, which are aware of their product’s health benefits and want to invest in their product.

For them, this is just the beginning. They want to come up with more healthy and organic products for the community. Their future plan is to cover market and factories to a larger extent. Till now they are partially dependent on others for their packaging, processing, and marketing, but after 2017 they are planning to process, pack and market their product themselves. And they are also looking forward to tying up with MARKFED to sell their products.

Message by Prabhjot, Shaminderjeet, & Sourav
“Today youngsters who are in the field of Microbiology should think towards making their education a boon for the society. There are many different fields in Microbiology, in which student can do wonders. And before starting, they should discuss with the people, learned men, professionals, and their professors, as much as they can.”

Rajinder Pal Singh

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Story of a Man Who Learned From His Mistakes and Turned Towards the Wisest Pursuit: Organic Farming

Mother Nature is one of our greatest teachers and she never stopped from the earliest times in teaching us what we need to know. Today we are living on Earth in a way as if we had another one to go to. We are not aware that how we are disturbing the nature’s balance and how it can affect us in reverse. Nowadays, we are seeing many cases of diseases, abnormalities, and deficiencies, in humans and animals, but still, most of the people are not able to identify the slips, they are just sitting with the blindfolds as if nothing is going on. But there are still few people, who have learned from their mistakes and are trying to bring a change in the society.

It is said that mistakes have the power to turn you into something better than you were before. And one such person who turned his path towards something better is Rajinder Pal Singh and today he is a successful personality in the field of organic farming. His products are not only praised and have high demand in Punjab, but also in America, Canada and even the royal family of London is also aware of it.

Well, there is always a story behind a successful journey. Rajinder Pal Singh a resident of Kalalwala Village of District- Bathinda, was once a farmer who used to do conventional farming, but after facing the adverse effects of chemicals and pesticides himself, he realized that, with which intensity he is affecting his environment and his health by using the chemicals. He used to spray pesticides on his crops, but one day, that spray affected his nervous system and same was the case with one of his relatives. From that day he decided to quit the use of chemicals and adopt natural ways for farming.

In the beginning, he and his uncle started organic farming on 4 acres of land and slowly expanded the area. In 2001, he bought rose saplings from Uttar Pradesh and since then he is doing rose farming also along with cultivating other crops. He has taken no training for organic farming. His uncle helped him in organic farming by gathering all information from the books. Currently, he is living in a joint family, with his wife, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins, and he gives all the credit of his success to his family for their endless support.

He was the first farmer in Malwa region of Bathinda who chose organic farming over conventional farming. When he started organic farming, at that time, he faced many difficulties and many people discouraged him also by saying that he is just wasting money, but today his products are sold in advance booking. And he is also the first farmer of Punjab who gifted Rose Oil made by him on his farm to Prince Charles and his wife in 2010 in an event in Fatehgarh Sahib.

The title of “King of Flowers” is also given to him for the work he is doing. He has the best variety of rose called Damascus and you can smell the fragrance of roses by standing at a far distance from his rose fields which is spread over 6 acres of land. He has also set up an oil extraction project on his own farm where he makes rose oil by using his farm roses. Other than rose farming he is also growing Green Grams, Lentil, Maize, Soy Bean, Peanut, Bengal Gram, Wheat, Basmati, Chick Pea, Guar and other seasonal vegetables. In 12 acres he grows basmati and in the rest of the land, he grows other above-mentioned crops.

The roses which Rajinder Pal Singh is farming blooms once in a year in December and its harvesting is completed till the month of March and April. From one acre of land he is growing 12 to 18 quintals of roses and today his annual profit from one acre of rose farming land is 1.25 Lakhs. His products demand come from America, Canada, and other countries. Even the rose oil made by him is purchased at a good price in advance by the exporters, just because he makes it from pure organic roses. In the off-season, he grows other varieties of roses and make Gulkand from it and sell it in the nearby grocery stores. Other than rose oil, rose water, and gulkand, he also sells organic lentils, wheat, maize, rice and other crops that he grows. All the products made by him are sold under his brand name Bhakar Organic Farm.

Today, Rajinder Pal Singh is very much satisfied with organic farming. Yes, he is getting low yield but the price of his products is just two times than the price of other crops grown using conventional farming. He only uses cow dung manure and river water in his fields and does not buy any type of manure or compost from the market. By doing organic farming he is also able to maintain the nutrient and fertility level of the soil. In the beginning, he faced a little problem in marketing his products but as soon the people recognized the quality level of his products, he started gaining momentum in his work. And he is also facing very fewer diseases in his crops by doing organic farming.

Now coming to his awards and achievements- He is appreciated by the Central Government under the ATMA SCHEME and is presented as a role model to inspire other farmers in the country. He is also a member of Bhumi Vardaan Foundation which is led by the Royal Prince of Wales, Britain, and all his products are organically certified by this foundation. He has also received Appreciation letter from Punjab Agriculture Department, Patiala and even Ex-Agriculture Minister of Punjab – Mr. Tota Singh also awarded him as a Progressive Farmer.

Future Plans:

His future plan is to continue his work in the field of organic farming and make aware more and more farmers about organic farming and inspire them to do it.

Message Given by Rajinder Pal Singh
“Today our earth need us and we as a farmer are the most responsible person in saving the earth from pollution. Yes, by doing organic farming there is less yield, but in the coming times, there will be high demand for organic products, not just because it is healthy, but also because it will become the need of the hour. Moreover, organic farming is sustainable and requires less finance, it only requires labour, and if a farmer is interested in switching to organic farming then he can do it very easily.”

 

 

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Harbant Singh

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Father-Son Duo Moving Towards Organic Farming By Making Internet their Research Weapon

Farming is one of the most important ingredients of human civilization and with the advancement in technology and living, farming has also been transformed over the years. But still, many farmers in India are stuck to the conventional farming method. But one such farmer or we can say a pair of a father-son duo who made the internet as their research weapon to progress in the field of farming are Harbant Singh (father) and Satnam Singh (son).

Like other farmers, Harbant Singh was also into conventional farming until his son came up with the idea of orchard farming organically. Yes, it was Satnam Singh who after his 1 year of research, approached his father to start dragon fruit farming.

It all started just one year ago when Satnam Singh came in contact with a person (Vishal Doda) in Gujarat through one of his friends. Vishal Doda is doing dragon fruit farming in 15 acres of area. Satnam Singh researched everything about dragon fruit plant and discussed it with his father. And when Harbant Singh came to know about dragon fruit farming and its benefits, he very happily encouraged his son to start it, no matter how much investment they have to do. Soon they visited Gujarat, bought dragon fruit plants and took some guidance from Vishal Doda about its farming.

Today, this father-son duo is the first one who started dragon fruit farming in Punjab and now the plant has started bearing fruits also. They have planted 500 seedlings of dragon fruits in one and a half bigha of land. One plant gives 4-20 kg of fruit in 4 years. They especially cast and prepared a cement structure with a wheel mounted on the pillar to support this plant. Whenever they need help related to dragon fruit farming either they search the internet or they consult Vishal Doda.

Well, dragon fruit farming is not the only thing that they are doing, they have also planted Sandalwood seedling on their farm. The idea of planting sandalwood came when Satnam was watching a news channel where he came to know that a minister gifted a sandalwood tree trunk in a temple that was worth in lakhs. At that time, the thing that struck his mind was to make the future secure and more profitable in both the terms- environmentally and financially. So he invested in sandalwood farming in July 2016 and planted 200 seedlings in 6 canal area.

Both father and son are very actively involved in the farming and are well aware of the plant characteristics. They know that sandalwood is a hemiparasite plant, so they have planted split red gram seedlings, lemon plants and cauliflower along with sandalwood. They are doing diversified farming so that they can generate profit both in present and future also.

According to Harbant Singh, the farming pattern that they are following is preparing them for the future. Because both dragon fruit and sandalwood need less water (can also be irrigated through rain water only) and don’t need any special type of manure or fertilizer. Moreover, they are well aware of the fact that in the coming time paddy and wheat farming will get disappear from Punjab because of the depleting level of ground water. And orchard farming will become the need of the coming time.

Harbant Singh is strictly following organic methods for dragon farming and sandalwood farming and slowly with the time, he will reduce the chemical use in his other crops also. The thing that encouraged Harbant Singh and his son towards organic farming is the increasing diseases and ailments in the society. They want to make the environment healthy and liveable for the future generations, as their ancestors left the atmosphere for them. There is one more reason that Satnam Singh chose organic farming after completing his engineering and that is his interest in farming from the beginning.

Today Satnam Singh is making full effort in helping his father in farming with mechanized ways. They prepare jivamrit and manure at home by using cow dung and Gau Mutr (cow urine). They avoid using pesticides and fertilizers. Harbant Singh is also working on water management in his village and is teaching other villagers about it, so that, they use less tube well water. He himself has only one tube well for 12 acres of land. Other than usual crops he also has guava, banana, mango and peach tree at his farm.

Satnam especially did one year of research before starting sandalwood and dragon fruit farming because he wanted to invest in a crop that needs less irrigation and has a plethora of health and environmental benefits. He wants other farmers to do the same and adopt a farming crop that is eco-friendly and has various benefits also.

Future Plans
His future plan is to grow garlic and mahogany tree. He wants other farmers to recognize the potential and start investing in it for their better future.

Message to farmers
“Harbant Singh and his son both want other farmers to start organic farming and save the environment for the future generation, only then they can survive and make earth a better living place.”

Satvir Singh

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Story of a Successful Agripreneur Coming Up as a Role Model for the Other Farmers in the Society – Satvir Farms Sadhana

It is said that great things never come from the comfort zone. And if a person really wants to do something different that he has never done before, then he has to leave his comfort zone. One such a person who left his cushy lifestyle and came back to Punjab, India, and pursued his interest is Satvir Singh.

Today Mr. Satvir Singh is a successful agripreneur and is earning two times more profit than wheat and paddy and has also established his own farm by the name Satvir Farm in Sadhana. He is mainly farming and cultivating vegetables in 7 acres of land out of which 5 acres land is his own and has taken 2 acres on rent.

The path that Satvir Singh followed to reach this stage in life was not that easy. He faced many ups and downs, but still after his steady efforts and struggles he pursued his interest and achieved success in it. It all started when he completed his school (12th) and after four years he went to Dubai for a job. But after some time, he came back to India and decided to start farming and dropped his idea of going back to Dubai. In the beginning, he started farming wheat and paddy, but after a visit to a vegetable farm with one of his friends, he was very much impressed and attracted towards vegetable farming.

Almost 7 years back (in 2010) he started vegetable farming and faced many problems in the beginning. Cauliflower was the first vegetable that he grew on 1.5 acres of land on his farm and suffered a severe loss. But then also he never gave up and keep on doing vegetable farming. Slowly he expanded his vegetable farming area to 7 acres and started growing pumpkin, bottle gourd, eggplant, onion, different varieties of chillies and bitter gourd and he also started preparing seedling and selling them in the market. Gradually, his work gains momentum and he started earning good profit from it.

After facing the severe loss from the first batch of cauliflower, Mr. Satvir Singh put his efforts into vegetable farming very wisely and in a strategic way, to avoid such situations in the future. First, he understood the customer and market demand and according to that, he began with vegetable farming. He gave at least one acre of land to one type of crop and in this way, he solves his marketing problems. He also participated in PAU event in which he got a chance to visit different farms and learned about the Net House farming method and he is using it currently to give his vegetables a protective environment. He also cultivated and harvested Tatuma Summer Squash a bit earlier and made them available in the market at the right time in December, just before the stock of the same vegetable reached the market from Gujarat. In this way, he marketed his veggie produce at a good price in the market. Moreover, he goes himself to the market every time to sell his produce and is not dependent on anyone.

In winters he does vegetable farming in the whole 7 acres of land and in summers he reduces his vegetable land to 3.5 acres and uses the rest of the land for paddy and wheat. In the whole village, only his land is seen with vegetable plantings cover and the surrounding area is covered with paddy and wheat. For his efficient agricultural practices and marketing tactics, he has received four prizes from Punjab Agriculture University till date. One of his great achievements is developing a new variety of pumpkin and he named that pumpkin after his son’s name “KABIR PUMPKIN”.

Currently, he is living with his family (mother, father, wife, two children and his elder brother and his wife are settled in Singapore) in Sadhana village which is located in Rampura Phul Tehsil of Bathinda district in Punjab. His father was the main inspiration that dragged him towards farming in the beginning, but now his father no more works in the field, he only stays at home and be with the kids. Today his whole family is a big support behind his successful farming experience and he gives all the credit to his family.

Satvir Singh manages his farm with the help of only one permanent worker and sometimes hires women workers for picking the vegetables. He earns 1-2 lakhs in a season from one acre of land depending upon the vegetable price.

Future Plans
In future, he is planning to switch to organic farming and for that, he has also taken 3 days training for Vermin-compost making. He wants to make people aware of the difference between organic and non-organic vegetables and food products. He also wants that vegetables should also come in packets like the other grocery products so that people can recognize that they are buying vegetables of which farm and which brand.

MESSAGE TO FARMERS
“I have faced many problems in the beginning, only because of lack of knowledge. But other farmers who are interested in doing vegetable farming, shouldn’t follow that same mistakes that I did and should consult some experts and analyze the vegetable market before starting vegetable farming. Moreover, the farmers who have enough resources should fulfil their basic home needs themselves instead of buying them from the market.”

Gobinder Singh Randhawa (Jonty)

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Story of an Emerging Beekeeper Who Carved His Way to Successful Beekeeping Business

It is said that, if you have the opportunity to get better then don’t waste it, because things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out. One such a person who didn’t miss the opportunity and carved his own path to success in the field of beekeeping is Gobinder Singh Randhawa aka Jonty Randhawa.

Gobinder Singh Randhawa is a resident of Village Landa, District- Ludhiana. He chose apiculture at a young age while pursuing his college studies. The main inspiration which acts as a driving force behind his profession was Sardar Baldev Singh- the head of his village. Baldev Singh himself was a progressive farmer and had a great name in the field of beekeeping.

Gobinder Singh with his two friends attended beekeeping training for 8 days at PAU and just after that, he started with beekeeping. Today he is a successful beekeeper and has established a good business. He started beekeeping in 2003 with 114 honey bee boxes by taking a loan of Rs. 280000 and today he has around 1000 honey bee boxes. He never prefers using chemicals or supplements for beekeeping, he always gives natural feed to the bees like sugar or grinded jaggery and for pest attack, he uses the natural method to prevent it. Mainly he makes honey from marigold and mustard flowers and currently his yearly revenue is around 3 crores.

With the cooperation of his two friends, he has also made a group by the name “BIG B” in the year 2004 to help the people who are associated with beekeeping work. Gobinder Singh himself is the president of this group and till now, 310 members have joined this group. Whether it’s a lady who makes face net masks, body covers for beekeepers, or a man who make wooden bee hives boxes at a small level, Gobinder Singh had tried to gather everyone under his association to help him in their work.

While setting up his business, he made some goals and targets, and by completing them step-by-step he has made a good space for his products in the market. From the beginning, he was interested in exporting his products to foreign and currently he is exporting bee wax made by him to the US. In India, he sells his honey produce in bulk at Doraha, Ludhiana, GT Road Shop and is earning good money out of it. He is also a registered supplier of National Horticulture Department and sell his product through them.

One of the great personality, who helped him in marketing the products is Dr. Ramandeep Singh Agri Business Expert, Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana by sending necessary information through Whats App group about the events and fairs. Gobinder Singh also shared his views about the marketing problem that beekeepers and farmers are facing nowadays, according to him- today everything is available online, even the consumer also shop the basic things online. So the producers also need to move one step ahead and make their business online.

Currently, Gobinder Singh is living with his full-fledged happy family (mother, father, wife and two sons) in his village and is also supporting his BIG B Association. He is also a very supportive person and helps other emerging beekeepers by providing them the beehives boxes, and other necessary guidelines. He also helps the farmers in making them aware of the loan procedure to start up their business. His future plans are to make and introduce more honey products like bee venom, royal jelly, and honey bee pollen grains and export it in the international market, because of its high demand.

MESSAGE TO FARMERS
“Those youngsters who commit suicide after facing failure, shouldn’t do that and start recognizing their potential. Because if a person has the willpower to do anything then they can achieve it and can reach any stage in their life very easily. Committing suicide is not a solution.”

Sunita Devi

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How a Dynamic Mother-Daughter Duo Is Attracting People towards Their Handcrafted Phulkari Products

In our Indian society, from the beginning men are considered as the subject matter and the ruling head member of the family, who earns the livelihood for the family. On the other hand, women are given the label of homemaker and a person who is quite helpful, polite and is responsible for making everything (clean clothes, food, clean home, etc.) available to the family members on time. Well, these trends were followed in the beginning and not at present. Today many successful women have come up as an inspiration for the society and are playing roles of both man and woman for their family, and turning the world upside down.

A couple of two such women, which are originated from a small village (Chanarthal Khurd) of Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab, are today running their own successful phulkari business by leading a group of 10 women from their village. This couple of women are a “Mother-Daughter Duo” which manages every functioning of the business very smoothly. The head of the group is Sunita Devi (mother) and Beant Sharma (daughter). Beant as being an active, young and communicative member, is the one who represents the group on every platform.

In 1996 Sunita Devi’s husband expired and for the family, it was a distressing situation. Since then it became very difficult for the family members to survive. But, gradually with the time Sunita Devi and her children recovered from that shock and start peddling slowly, to make their life smooth and get back on the track. They faced many difficulties and crossed many hurdles to reach where they are today.

Anganwadi tried to help the women of that village on a local level and formed a self-help group in 2012. And Sunita Devi’s daughters were the member of this self-help group. They were working so hard on every piece of the phulkari suit, dupatta, shawls, and jackets, but they were not getting the real worth of their produced products. Nothing was properly managed. So, in one of the PUNFED meeting, Beant Sharma expressed her and other women’s problems; after that two groups were created in May 2017 – “SHRI GURU ARJAN DEV SELF HELP GROUP” and “DEVI ANNAPOORNA GROUP”. Sunita Devi was made the president of “SHRI GURU ARJAN DEV SELF HELP GROUP” and Beant was the re-presenter of the group. Well yes, it was a group effort, but Beant’s willpower and Sunita Devi’s strength to support her daughter is what helped in the formation of this group. And when love and skill work together, it is expected to get a masterpiece.

Earlier, due to financial crisis Beant and other children were forced to stop their studies in the middle, but now as the things are going good, Beant and other girls are planning to continue their studies. Beant has planned to pursue BA privately from Punjabi University.

In Sunita Devi’s family, there are total six members, four daughters, one son and she herself. Son is working with Honda City in Gujarat on the contract basis and the four daughters are supporting the mother in running their group. Beant is the active one, out of all the four and represent the group in different events and exhibitions. Now Sunita Devi and Beant are connected to a large mesh of customers and they sell their products themselves to their customers and get the right value of their produced goods. Beant is a young girl and she is well-aware about the current marketing trends and she is also following them. She is connected with all the customers through WhatsApp group and you can get their phulkari by just ordering them and it will get delivered at your home. The handcrafted products made by this group are really very beautiful, unique and best in quality. They buy their raw material from Sirhind and make phulkari suit, dupatta, keyrings, book markers, shawls, jackets and other home decor things out of it. In future, they are planning to come up with more phulkari products with creative designs.

Message By Mother-Daughter Duo
“A woman has the potential of doing everything, it’s all about the inner strength and determination. So never underestimate yourself and always try to make your skill useful to yourself. One of thing that make the woman stronger is education. Every woman should study and complete their education in order to be updated and aware of the current situation of the world.“

Anita Goyal

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Journey of a Passionate Woman from a Common Housewife to Renowned Personality- Zaika Ma’am

Earlier in India, after marriages, most of the women never have the confidence to pursue their hobbies and interest as their career and they just use to sit at home and do their house chores. The reasons which come in support of not pursuing their interests was societal pressure, family pressure, conservative society, financial crisis, family responsibilities and much more. But there were still some women who could not be stopped by anyone. And for those women this line natch the best – Nothing can dim the light that shines from within.

Such a woman who has always been an inspiration for women’s society is Anita Goel. Anita Goyal is a successful entrepreneur from a town in Ludhiana called Jagraon. She is very popular in her hometown for her cooking classes and is leading her business under the brand name called Zaika Cooking Classes. She also teaches painting and embroidery to her students, and all her students are from young age girls in their teens to elderly ladies. Her passion for cooking has led to spread her name so far that she is known as ZAIKA MA’AM in her city. She also became a member of Kisan Club in PAU in 2009 and till then she is conducting cooking classes in PAU regularly. All her students are very passionate about taking cooking lessons from her and listens to her very calmly whenever she start taking her lesson.

Well, all this success, prosperity and name is not achieved so easily. It all started in 1986 after her marriage. She was married in a family, where till now no woman has put a step outside the house and done any kind of work outside the house. But she was the first one. Her husband was an advocate by profession, so basically, their family was financially sound and there was no need for her to lay hands and work. But it was her passion, which led her to this level of achievement, she has gained today. She is currently living with her happy and complete family (husband, two sons, one daughter, two daughter-in-laws, and grandchildren) in Jagraon and also managing her daily business and teaching schedules along with her younger son. For her, her family is the greatest strength who supported her all this way and never discourage her from what she was doing.

It is said that to be great you need to start from the small and same did Mrs. Anita Goyal. She earned Rs. 750 per month from her first job, to which her husband objected in the beginning and for her also it was very difficult to manage everything (cost of cooking ingredients, convenience, personal use) in that little amount. She faced many hurdles and hitches in starting her own business. Even though she has lost a lot in life, but she never gets demotivated and always kept her zeal and enthusiasm alive. After working very hard, she finally got her break through and she officially opened her cooking classes and today she is successfully running her own business.

For her, cooking is like dispensing happiness, and the thing that makes her cooking skills unique and special from others is healthiness and wellness quotient of the food products made by her. She makes every type of bakery products, pickles, chutneys, 17 types of spices, 3 types of instant mix spices and also 3 types of instant sweet dishes mix (thandai, phirni and kheer) . She use flour (flour is made from hard wheat) instead of refined flour (cake flour or Maida in Hindi) while baking bread, muffins, pizza base, cakes of different flavor, coconut castle, cupcakes, biscuits and other bakery products. And in her pickles, she never adds any kind of added preservatives except salt, sugar, and oil; because according to her, salt, sugar and oil are natural preservatives in themselves. Everything made by her is very healthy and natural. She makes so delicious pickles that, even demands comes from abroad for her pickles. She says that, if you are giving the best then you will definitely stand out from the rest.

She also has a little kitchen garden in her backyard, where she grows turmeric, green chili, and other seasonal vegetables for her home use. She is in her sixties, but from her active participation and involvement in different events, exhibitions, and business, it seems that she is going to prosper more and achieve greatly in future. Mrs. Anita Goyal’s hobby and passion for cooking has helped her in making her own identity in the society and earn well. Currently, she is planning to take her business to the next level and open an official shop where she can sell all her products easily.

Message by Mrs. Anita Goyal-
“According to her- No work is small or big, if you really want to make a change, all you need is immense determination and willpower to push through. You have to be strong-willed, only then you can achieve what you want. A woman can only bring change in her life with her own strength and not excuses. Women should make their own identity in the society and get recognized for their skill and talent, not just their husband’s name because it feels very proud when your family gets recognized because of you.”

Narpinder Singh Dhaliwal

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Story of a Man Achieving Sweet Taste of Success with Beekeeping

Beekeeping is a long-standing practice in India and after the independence, it is being promoted through various rural development programs. But when it comes to taking the beekeeping to the next level through commercializing the bee products, then even today also most of the people are lacking these types of skills. But there are many people who have achieved great revenue and success from it. One such person who is practicing beekeeping from last 20 years and is generating good profit from it is Narpinder Singh Dhaliwal.

It is said that we don’t grow when things are easy, we grow when we face challenges, and Narpinder Singh Dhaliwal is one of those people who has achieved this success in his life by doing great hard work and facing many failures. Today Mr. Dhaliwal is the owner of Dhaliwal Honey Bee Farm having around 1000 bee boxes, which is situated in his own native place- Chuharchak Village of district Moga (Punjab).

Before starting beekeeping, Narpinder Singh Dhaliwal was almost unemployed and was working at a measly salary of 1500 and it was very difficult for him to meet his needs. His low qualification was also a downside for him. So he decided to take over his father’s work and help him in beekeeping. His father was an ex-army man and he started beekeeping with 5 boxes in 1997. He was the first one who started beekeeping on a commercial level.

Mr. Narpinder did everything himself from the beginning to setup his business and also faced many difficulties in it. Due to fewer resources and less money, he also faced many failures, but he never gave up. He took 5 days training from Horticulture Department of PAU to give beekeeping business a perfect direction. He took help from friends, money from the bank, and from the joint effort of his family and some helpers he finally setup his bee farm in his village.

He started with 5 boxes and today he has around 1000 boxes, he keeps on migrating those boxes from places to places to get the good yield of honey. He has mainly western bees on his farm and that is European and Italian. He does not give any artificial or supplemental feed to bee colonies, he prefers only natural feed. Moreover, he doesn’t use any type of pesticide or chemical spray for pest control, he prefers natural method for controlling or preventing the pests. Because he believes in doing everything in a natural way.

The problems that he generally faces are Varroa Mites and Hornets attack during the rainy season and to cope up it, he uses natural preventive methods. And even after following the natural method he gets good ROI (return on investment) over his investment in one year. Well, many people practice beekeeping, the thing that makes him a smart beekeeper is that he directly make contact with his customers and market his product himself. From honey processing to packaging to branding, he does everything himself with the help of 6 helpers, he is not dependent on anyone for anything. Currently, he is also getting the subsidy for his beekeeping business from the government.

In the beginning, many people were there who criticized his work and honey quality also, but then also he never got demotivated and continued with beekeeping. Other than beekeeping he also does organic farming, dairy farming, fruit farming, poultry farming and conventional farming but the produce generated from all these farming is mainly to fulfil his own family needs.

Narpinder Singh also discussed his views on how to confirm about the honey pureness and the different colour of honey samples. According to him –
“The good quality of honey is not checked with its colour or liquidity. Because honey obtained from different flowers of different plants have different properties. And the best type of honey is obtained from mustard flowers and it is very thick in consistency. Thick honey is also known as frozen honey which is mainly obtained from mustard flowers; it is a very high in demand bee product in the international market because of its health benefits. Good identity and pureness of honey can only be known by the experts present in labs or agriculture universities. So if a person is in doubt about the honey quality then they should get it confirmed from the experts or buy it from a certified person, rather than believing on someone’s sayings.

Mr. Narpinder Singh himself is doing apiculture and is producing honey of multi-flower, litchi, and mustard, and is also exporting most of the mustard honey to Europe. He is also a Member of Progressive Beekeeper Association in PAU. Other than producing honey, he is also planning to launch some other bee and turmeric products like “Bee Pollen, Bee Pollen Capsule, Turmeric Capsule and Royal Jelly” in the market. And he has also taken advanced training to make Bee Pollen Capsule from PAU especially.

Bee Pollen has the important nutrients required by humans and Royal jelly has multiple health benefits- both are the most in demand product in the international market and very soon its demand will also increase in India. Currently, his main focus is on marketing Bee Pollen Capsule and Turmeric Capsule and making aware the people of its health benefits and uses.

His work has made him achieved many awards and prizes in different Kisan Melas. He also won Jatt Expo Award in Paragpur. He was also honoured by Agricultural Department of Moga in 2014 and in 2016, he was also honoured on World Honey Day.

Message by Narpinder Singh Dhaliwal
“Today farming has a lot of potentials and if a farmer is ready to diversify the field of agriculture. I diversified my farm and today I’m reaping benefits from it. I want to give this message to my farmer friends that in order to be successful, you have to diversify. Beekeeping is one practice which has been ignored by farmers for too long. One can achieve a lot of success in this field as it is very profitable. And nowadays government is also giving subsidy on 5-10 boxes to the person who want to start beekeeping. ”

Amarjit Singh

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Kisan Junction- Story of A Man Who Quit His Job and Turned Into Emerging Khetipreneur through Diversified Farming

These days everyone dreams of a good profession followed by a nice decent job, and why not? We were always told that happiness and satisfaction in life are always achieved by doing a good professional job in the service sector. There are very few people who want to put their hands in the soil and make a livelihood out of it. However, there is a man who chose the soil over his job and is successfully practicing natural farming.

Mr. Amarjit Singh is a khetipreneur, who is actively involved in organic farming, dairy farming and is also running a restaurant business with the name Kisan Junction in Gharuan. He started farming in 2007, at that time he didn’t have any concrete plan in the mind, he just had the confidence of making difference in his own life.

Before starting farming, Amarjit Singh went to PAU for training and also visited different states, where he observed different agriculture practices being followed by farmers in producing the natural food without any chemicals. He also went to Calicut, Kerala for turmeric cultivation and processing training.

From his state visits and training, he came to know that there is a lot of adulteration in the food products that we consume daily. And after getting the insight, he decided of farming by using the natural method only, so that he can produce food without any contamination. From the last two years, he is only using organic manure in his farm and no fertilizers and pesticides. He is so much passionate about farming that he has taken 30 acres of land on lease for farming purpose and himself he has 1.5 acres of land only. He grows sugarcane, wheat, paddy, turmeric, mango, watermelon, spices, herbal plants and other seasonal vegetables in his farm.

Dr. Ramandeep Singh was one of the main personalities in PAU, from which Amarjit Singh got inspired and decided of giving his life a new turn. And it was Dr. Ramandeep Singh only who gave the concept of On-Farm-Market to him on which Kisan Junction is based. Today, Amarjit Singh is running Kisan Junction which is located just along with his farms on the Chandigarh-Ludhiana state highway. The main motive of Kisan Junction was to help farmers get their processed products reach the market through his shop. He initiated in 2007 and it took him 9 years to establish his own on-farm-market. From the last year, he has also opened a restaurant on the same land with the same name Kisan Junction- from Farm to Fork.

Amarjit Singh is just 10th passed by qualification, and today at the age of 45 he has finally recognized that what he is meant for and what he should do. So, to guide the rest of the farmers like him, he has formed a group called Shri Dhanna bhagat Farmers Club in Gharuan. He is the president of this group and apart from farming; he also takes out time for the group meetings. They have total 18 members in their group, and the main function of their group is to discuss that which type seeds they should use or buy, modern ways to implement farming and etc. They have also bought wheat sowing, harvesting and other types of machines for agriculture practices in the name of the group, and all the members of the group can use it and can also lend it to other farmers of their village on lower/reasonable rates.

Amarjit Singh’s second most important profession is dairy farming, he has total 8 buffaloes and from the milk given by them, he makes Milk, Cottage Cheese, Khoya, Clarified Butter and Buttermilk. He sells the entire dairy products in his on-farm-market – Kisan Junction. One of the famous processed selling food items of his restaurant is Khoya Barfi which is made by using Khoya (dried whole milk or milk thickened by heating in an open iron) and Jaggery.

Things that are attracting more customers to his restaurants are deliciously fresh and nutritious food, open ventilation, proper cooling system and on road farm market. He has made the wall of the restaurants by using green net and bricks which ensure proper ventilation of air inside the restaurant.

After discussing the current trend and agriculture practices with him, he told us about his views-

“People have a very wrong mentality, they think that there is no profit in farming and they shouldn’t opt to farm as their livelihood. But this is not true. Wrong thoughts and views are induced in the mind of children like- only uneducated and illiterate people do farming and because of this, young generation look upon farming as a shabby or discreditable profession.
Nowadays, children are running behind Rs. 10,000 job and this thing have made them despondent from their life. Instead of brainwashing the kids against farming, it’s better to teach them the benefits and profits generated from farming. Agriculture is a diversified field and if a child is interested in choosing agriculture as his career then he can do wonders.”

Amarjit Singh took risk of quitting his job and starting farming, and because of his hard work and passion towards farming, today that risk has paid off well. The main motives of Amarjit Singh behind starting Kisan Junction Market Hub are:

• Helping farmers in selling their product through their shop

• Growing fresh and chemical free vegetables and fruits

• Providing fresh, original and natural food products to the customers

• Use fresh produce in the restaurant and offer healthy and fresh meal to the customers

• Guide farmers to process, do branding and market their produce themselves

Well, this is not the end, he also provides Institutional training for IAS probationers and the director also visited his farm. His future plan is to expand his on-road-farm market business and make other farmers aware that what benefits and profits they can earn from doing farming and how. He always welcomes every farmer that comes to him to get help in the field of agriculture.

Message by Amarjit Singh
“Farming sector is going through major difficulties and farmers always talk about his rights, not his responsibilities. The government is not going to come forward and help farmer every time. Farmer has to take the initiative and help himself. PAU have 6 months training program, in which a farmer is trained from the beginning of land preparation to sowing to marketing the product. So, from now on, the farmer has to take responsibility on their own shoulders if they want to earn a good livelihood from agriculture.”

Amarjit Bhattal

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Know about an Ex-Army Officer Who Turned into an Agripreneur & Is Bringing Revolution in the Field Of Agribusiness

Nowadays, very few people see a future for themselves in the field of agriculture. And the era in which we are living, most of the people are attracted towards the bright lights of the big cities. And when it comes to life after retirement, then people generally prefer to live an easy and comfortable lifestyle in which they have to do nothing, just sit at home, read the newspaper, spend time with grandchildren, do little exercising and that’s it. There are very few people who are concerned about nature and fulfil their responsibility and try to give back to the soil, that the soil has provided them all their life.

Well, one such person who is fulfilling his responsibility towards the Mother Nature and has made that responsibility as his hobby of farming and a way of relaxation is, Ex-army Officer- Mr. Amarjit Singh Bhattal. Leaving all his luxuries he is living with his father and wife in a small village of Ludhiana- Banohar (Banohad) and running a small shop with the name “JATT SAUDA”.

Well, many people have shops and retail stores along with the road, so what is that special in JATT SAUDA? The thing that makes “JATT SAUDA” unique and different from others is the organically produced vegetable, lentils, fruits and spices from his own farm which is just behind the shop. So basically, he has an “ON-ROAD FARM MARKET” where you can buy everything fresh and organic. Moreover, he also has a small poultry farm where he has around 100 chickens (desi murgiyan). The number of chickens keeps on going up and down, but the demand for the desi eggs never goes down and are sold as soon as they reach his store’s rack.

He started organic farming in December of 2012, after taking training from Kheti Virasat Mission. And from that day till now, he is so actively involved in farming that, from morning till evening, he spends all his time in the farm store and his father is always there to accompany him. It’s like the father-son duo is nurturing the small piece of land like their own child.

He has given a very rustic touch to his small shop, where you can see all the fresh seasonal veggies displayed on a side and garlic hanging from the roof. In his shop, there is a way towards the backyard which leads to his small farm where you can find small plantings of okra, ridge gourd, tomatoes, bitter melon, pigeon pea, different types of lettuce and many more vegetables. According to him, you can see the best view of his farm in the early morning or evening because at that time you can see the best natural colors of nature emerged with the farm beauty. Poultry farm is at one corner of his farm where you can see a dog tied with the hook. All in all, his whole farm will give you an ideal view of a perfect farm. He has 2 to 3 helper, which help him in farm work.

Amarjit Singh completed his M.Sc. degree from Punjab University, Chandigarh, and serving the country was one of the career choices of his life. Before farming, Mr. Amarjit Singh had one more profession and that was a consultant in an immigration firm, at that time he used to counsel children, talk to them and discuss them about their thinking and perspective for their life aims and goals. Moreover, he was also a popular advisor of Punjab’s Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. Even after achieving all these prominent titles in his previous life, today, he is not proud of anything. He believes in simple living and respecting the Mother Nature, and by doing organic farming he is trying to do his side of effort in conserving the nature and providing healthy food to the community.

Amarjit Singh has also an unseen talent. From his college days, he was leaned towards literature and was very fond of Leo Tolstoy’s work. He is also a very keen writer and now also whenever he gets time from the farming, he writes about his thoughts and thinking.

After having the conversation with him, he discussed his views on the poor consumer’s demands and according to him – “Nowadays consumer demand is very unhealthy. With the advanced technologies and modern ways of preserving the food, today you can shop and eat peas and carrot in summers and bottle gourd in winters. As we know that vegetables are an important part of human’s diet and each season offers an array of beautiful fresh produce, so if you include more organic seasonal fruits and veggies in your palate, then it will be more beneficial. Because by adding seasonal fruits in the diet you can enjoy the better taste of the veggies with higher nutritional values, without any chemicals, and it will also support the body’s need according to the season. He also said that the day consumer will be aware of the benefits of organic food, from that day the demand of organic veggies and fruits will increase. And to increase the awareness, farmers and consumers interaction is very much necessary.”

On his own behalf, he tries to make the people aware about the organic farming and he has also given presentations to school children on the importance of organic farming and foods. Currently, he is just planning to continue organic farming and make more people aware about benefits of organic farming.

In future, he is planning to:

• Upgrade the infrastructure of his on-road farm market

• Build up a net house in 2000 yards

• Give a protective environment to the crops in his farm

• Install hybrid system of irrigation

• Increase water storage


Message by Amarjit Singh Bhattal
“He has given a very wise message to today’s farmers- “You can’t control the product price and can be dependent on the government, you should do what is in your hands. The farmer should try to control the input cost and start doing organic farming as it requires less monetary input. A time will come when people will realize that conventional farming is not going to fulfil their demands. So, it’s better to understand the rising need of the hour and start acting according to it.”

Maninderjit Kaur

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How A Woman’s Fascination towards Creativity Led Her to Be a Successful Entrepreneur

It is said that, when you have the passion, then take the action and magic will happen. Well, this is a very true saying. A woman with the same attitude, followed her passion and today she is running a successful business.

Maninderjeet Kaur – a usual woman who always was fascinated with the creative handwork from her childhood, and later on, in her teenage, stitching and embroidery became her hobby. As her passion for creativity and her hobby grew more steadily, it made her feel like she should learn this skill professionally, and this ultimately led her to pursue Diploma in Stitching after her education (10th passed).

After marriage, generally, women think about spending a good time with their better half, getting settled with their family responsibilities and spending time with their kids. But this was not the case with Maninderjeet Kaur. It is not that, she hasn’t fulfilled her responsibilities, but at the same time, she also gave equal importance to her interest also. Currently, she is living happily with her family in Zirakpur and also running her business.

Twenty years ago Maninderjeet Kaur started Maninder Silayi Center and later on gave a label name to her business called Kohinoor, which today has prospered to a very successful business cum workshop. And to reach every big thing you have to start from small. Maninderjeet Kaur started by teaching stitching and embroidery to few girls at her home. Soon, she got recognized in the locality and many women and girls started visiting her for tailoring lessons. Finally, her degree came to work, she rented an area where she started giving tailoring lessons. She taught her students to stitch designer suits, bed sheets, pillow covers, kitchen cloth bag, grocery shopping bag, mats and many more things. Today there are total 60 girls under her, some of them are trainers and the rest are students who are still learning.

In her stitching centre, she has 15 stitching machines from which she teaches around 10 courses- stitching, fashion stitching, quilt making, bed sheet making, painting, embroidery (machine/handmade both), cooking, and different types of bag stitching. Her tailoring centre and classes are so popular that even educated women who are working as a doctor, engineer, and nurse take out time from their busy schedule to learn from her. Usually, she charges Rs. 500 for stitching course and 600 to 1000 for painting course to normal students. But sometimes she doesn’t charge to girls and women who are from a weak financial background and don’t have enough money to pay for the course. Moreover, she provides stitching material from her side to them, so that they can learn the skill and earn for themselves.

In the beginning, when she started her business, her quality work bring her a good customer (a shop in Chandigarh called VIVCO) and she partnered with them. She purchases clothes in bulk from VIVCO, wash them, make different items from it like bed sheets, pillow covers, bags, suits in her workshop and send all those products to VIVCO so that they can further sell it in the market. This whole process was generating good profit to her business. But around three years ago, in 2014, VIVCO closed their business, and it impacted Maninderjeet Kaur’s business severely. Till then she is facing hindrances in running her business smoothly because she doesn’t have a proper commercial platform to sell her workshop produce in the market. Despite all these hardships she never felt demotivated, and even today is she gets any opportunity or chance, she actively participate in it and gives her 100%.

Today Maninderjeet Kaur is in her mid-60s, but her inner passion has not diminished yet. She still teaches her student with full of energy and enthusiasm. According to her, she is still growing and learning which is helping her to add more products to expand her business. She attends every type of exhibition or event to make her brand more popular and gain the ideal audience.

Maninderjeet Kaur has been stitching clothes and doing embroidery since her teenage but never had she thought that this would someday turn into a full-fledged business for her. She is tailoring her way to success and the identity she has earned today is because of her zeal to continue her interest. For now, she is focusing on improving her revenues to maximize the profit and also to take her business on greater heights.

Message by Maninderjeet Kaur
“A woman should never suppress her skills and interest because of other reasons. Because those skills and interest can help her earn livelihood tomorrow in difficult times. Moreover knowing an additional skill is never a disadvantage, sometime in future that skill will definitely come to work. And whenever you get the opportunity, never miss it and always take advantage of it.”

 

Paramjit Kaur

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How a Woman with the Zest of a Female Sikh Warrior Is Covering the Milestones to Become a Rising Entrepreneur

Women have contributed a lot in the past for the community along with men, but oftentimes women contribution is overlooked. In India, there were several women who ruled, taught and served the country, their community and their people in the past. They have managed organizations, guided communities and led revolts against the enemies. And all these accomplishments are admirable in their own right. These Female Warriors were great inspiration for women before and even today. One such woman who is inspired by a great female Sikh warrior- Mai Bhago, and is a rising entrepreneur is Paramjit Kaur.

Paramjit Kaur is a woman of strength and faith, who took the first step of establishing Mai Bhago group in her village Lohara (Ludhiana). She started this group in 2008 and since then she is devoting her most of the time in expanding the business and adding and refining the products. Well, there is no doubt that being a woman in the man’s world and establishing a business of their own is no cake walk. It was Paramjit Kaur’s willpower and her family support which helped her in forming the group.

Behind the startup of every good thing, there is a guiding force, similarly, behind the Paramjit Kaur’s motivation of starting her own group was a social activist Suman Bansal, who helped her in getting one-month free training in homemade food products in the Punjab University of Ludhiana. And after that, she never looked back. Today, she has 16 members under her and she guides everyone personally.

Products made by Mai Bhago group are seven types of squashes, perfumes, jal-jeera, phenyl, body moisturizing balm, sabzi tadka, honey, herbal shampoo and mango chutney. Paramjit Kaur herself visit the market to buy the raw material of all the products. Everything made by Mai Bhago is handmade and they use machines for extracting the fruit juice, packing and sealing the food products.

• All the squashes are made from very natural process using the fruit extracts and give the taste of real fruits;

• Perfumes are made from different types of roses and contain the natural essence of rose fragrance;

• Jal-jeera powder which will give you a refreshing taste;

• Pure honey extracted from a very natural process;

• Herbal shampoo which does not contain any type of chemicals;

Well, these are just a few to mention, in future, they are going to come up with more natural and herbal products.

Paramjit Kaur is just 10th passed but her achievements and determination to do something on her own, has won her award and prize money of Rs 50,000 from Captain Kawaljeet Singh on the 55th celebration of Cooperative Society. She has also won appreciation award from the Punjab Agriculture University of Ludhiana for her admirable work. Apart of this, she is actively involved in events, exhibitions, and committee that are for the welfare of farmers, self-help groups, and entrepreneurs. She and her husband are the secretary of Cooperative Society and make decisions in helping the needful people. She is also an active member of Kisan Club and attends monthly meeting and farmer fairs regularly to be updated about the new things and technology in the farming field.

Despite being involved in so many activities and her business, Paramjit Kaur never neglected her children and family responsibilities. She always took complete care of her kid’s education and wants them to go for higher education and do great in their life ahead. Currently, her son is pursuing diploma in electrical and her daughter has done BA and now she is pursuing MA. Her kids are interested in supporting her business in the future and whenever they get time from their studies and college, they assist her in attending events and exhibitions.

Apart from her busy world, she has some hobbies for which she is very much eager and excited, and that is the kitchen gardening and teaching religious music to kids. No matter how much busy she is, she always makes out time from her busy schedule to contribute to her hobbies. She loves to do gardening and she has a small kitchen garden for it, where she grows seasonal vegetables (lady finger, eggplant, bitter gourd, chili etc.) and herbal plants (Aloe Vera, tulsi, sage, thyme, mint etc.). She is also very passionate about teaching religious music, musical instrument and how to read Guru Granth Sahib to the kids. In the evening, nearby children visit her and learn from her very eagerly how to play harmonium, sitar, and tabla. And she provides all these lessons free of cost.

Paramjit Kaur is a great inspiration for the other ladies of her village. She always wanted to do something on her own, because according to her doing something on her own makes the woman confident and independent. Even she never stopped her daughter from doing anything which will lead her to be an individualistic and self-regulating personality in the future. Nowadays, she is promoting her group through different platforms and is planning to expand it to a huge level.

A very true line said by Shad Helmstetter-

“It is the big choices we make that set our direction. It is the smallest choices we make that get us to the destination.”

So it is totally up to your choice, what path you chose and where you reach. And Mrs. Paramjit Kaur has already chosen her path.


Message by Paramjit Kaur
“Today every woman need to be independent and self-assured in order to survive the world. Learning to support yourself is a major element of any success you hope to achieve. Females should recognize their skill and stand up on their feet to financially, mentally and emotionally support themselves, because in the end, you will have yourself to fall back on.”

Harnam Singh

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Story of a Man Who Chose To Stay in His Own Country and Do Something for His Motherland Instead Of Going Abroad

In Punjab, youngsters are besotted by foreign shores and migrating to abroad have become a status symbol and trend in the society. Despite having enough resources in their own motherland, today youngsters have foreign attraction and they prefer to go abroad and get settled there. For most of the people in Punjab, relocation to foreign countries has become a question of identity, even if they do not know what their goals are after going there. Yes earning money is easy in abroad, but not that easy.

With the same dream, a young man of Ludhiana, Mr. Harnam Singh was also planning to go Canada like his other friends, but in the middle, he dropped his idea. After the conversation with his friends, Harnam came to know that, life in abroad is not that easy, you have to work day and night, if you want to make money, moreover you have to stay away from your family. So after knowing their friend’s experience, he thought that, even after going abroad, if he has to face hardships in managing a simple living, then it’s better to live here with family and start doing something in his homeland only. He decided to continue his studies and also help his father in farming.

After that decision, he never looked back or let any second thought enter his mind. Today, Harnam Singh owns Namdhari Strawberry Farm which is stretched in 3.5 acres of land in his native place and is earning profits in lakhs. It all started in 2011 when his father went to PAU for the training of mushroom farming and while coming back he brought 6 seedlings of strawberry for the kitchen garden. And it is when the idea of the strawberry farming came in the mind of Harnam Singh. Gradually with the time 6 seedling became 20, 20 became 50, 50 became 100, 100 became 1000 and 1000 became lakhs. Today, they have around 1 lakh of strawberry plants in their farm. Moreover, to maintain the number of strawberry plants, he has also started cultivating strawberry seedlings in Shimla, by taking an area on rent. Mostly he avoids using chemicals and fertilizers in his farm and prefers natural way of farming. And for packing the strawberries he has packing machines and rest of the work is done by the workers (20-30), which he hires mostly in the season of strawberries. Their yearly production of strawberries is very huge, due to which Harnam has to sell some of the produce himself and the rest he sells to the shops or vegetable market of big cities.

In the meanwhile, Harnam never stopped studying and today he has a good list of academic degrees. He did Graduation in Arts, Diploma in Software Engineering, Diploma in Networking Engineering, and presently, he is pursuing Diploma in B.Sc Agriculture. He also helps the farmers by teaching and guiding them about the strawberry farming without charging them.

Currently, Harnam Singh is living in Ludhiana with his happy and small family (Father, Wife, One Daughter and One Son). His future plan is to expand the strawberry farm to a greater extent and make other farmers aware about the strawberry farming.

Message By Harnam Singh
“Harnam wants to convey the same message that he himself experienced in his life that if you have enough resources with you, then start utilizing it efficiently rather than searching it elsewhere. The youngsters of Punjab should start contributing to their motherland instead of going abroad because they can also earn good profit even by staying here.”

 

Raksha Dhand

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Story of a Woman Who Is Helping Phulkari Artisans in Showcasing their Rich Cultural & Artistic Work

Gone are the days when women were only bonded to work in the kitchen and were financially helpless. Earlier there were very few people who rarely acknowledged the fact that women were as good as men in parameters like hard work, intelligence quotient, and leadership skills.

Today also there are many women who are confident, passionate and have the enormous fire in their bellies and brains to take on the best in the business and beat in the real game. One such smart woman who is leading a self-help group cum business by using the creative skills of phulkari workers is Raksha Dhand. She is trying her best to keep the art of phulkari alive with new design trends and innovation.

Raksha Dhand is a resident of Chamkaur Town of Punjab and the president of Genda Self-Help Group. She formed this group in 2010 with the unity of 16 Phulkari workers. And after her phulkari handcrafted material cluster was approved by the Development Commissioner Handicraft (New Delhi), she never looked back. She started with a boom in upturning the Punjab’s traditional handicraft. After getting the approval, fashion designers were specially sent from NIFD to train the skilled workers under this group. Total 25 days of training was given to fully skilled workers, and gradually their work started getting admiration from the people. Slowly her group’s effort gained good numbers of customers and she started earning good profit. Today Raksha Dhand has its own shop with the name of Chamkaur Sahib Phulkari House in the same town where she lives and she sells cloth material designed, embroidered and crafted by her Genda Self-Help Group workers in the shop. Her son is supporting her with the work and all the exhibitions and events.

There was no compulsion, family pressure or financial problem which led Raksha Dhand to form a group and start selling their product. It was Raksha Dhand’s passion of showcasing the rich cultural and artistic history of Phulkari artisans and craftsmen and also to be independent. She always tries to motivate her group members and help her workers in making the use of different phulkari techniques combined with beautiful and vibrant designs to make the most attractive and unique phulkari suits, dupattas, shawls, jackets, and other products.

Currently, Raksha Dhand is living with her full-fledged happy family including husband, two sons, and daughter-in-law. Out of two sons, the younger one is settled in Australia and the elder one- Harsh Dhand is helping her mother in her business. Under her Genda self-help group, she also teaches other women the art of phulkari, so that they can also craft phulkari material and become self-independent. She buys raw material from the Ludhiana market and gives it to the workers under her group and workers spend their day-&-night to produce exceptionally beautiful phulkari products; as soon as they are done with the work, Raksha Dhand pays them on the spot. She doesn’t wait for the customers to buy the products because the workers working under her are all women and are from humble families and they also have to run their livelihood. She understands the situation of working women under her and that’s why she always pay them the right price for their work.

Future Plans:

In the future, she is planning to expand her business and make their handcrafted work get available to the people on the global level. Recently they have contacted India Mart to make a deal with them and sell their products through their website.

Message by Raksha Dhand
“Every woman should be independent and do what she likes. Because if you are determined to build a future for yourself then nobody can stop you. I’m trying to give the women in my society a future, if you are also capable of doing so then take a step forward in helping the deprived females who come from poor background and teach them how they can use their skills and be independent and self-regulating.self-regulating.”

Amandeep Kaur

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Story of a Young Girl with Budding Skills Trying to Stand on Her Own Feet & Make Her Identity in the Society with Her Culinary Skills

It is said that those who want to achieve something in their life, for them only a small motivation or inspiration is enough. God has sent everyone with a gift box, only a few of them open their package and identify their hidden talent, and most of the people never dare to do that due to lack of confidence. But a girl from Moga dared to recognized her talent and stand on her own feet to become independent.

Amandeep Kaur a 25 year old girl from Lande ke Moga is a budding entrepreneur, who is trying to make her own identity in the society. As we know that behind every leader, there is a struggling experience which provokes them to reach that spot, same is with Amandeep. She is a young and enthusiastic soul similar to other girls, but her determination is what makes her stand out from others. Currently, she lives with her brother and mother, her father passed away quite a long time ago. And due to the financial crisis, she stopped studying after 10th. But as we all might have heard, those who are meant to do something great and stand out from all the crowd, they cannot be stopped by any kind of difficulties.

Today, Amandeep is leading a group of 7 girls known as Swati Women Cooperative Society, and under this brand name she is taking little steps towards success. Behind the formation of this group, there is hand of female philanthropist Mrs. Sundara, she only gave a small inspiration and that was enough for Amandeep to gather the rest of the girls and start up with their own business of homemade pickles and chutneys.

Amandeep Kaur explained that how Mrs. Sundara herself visited their village (village name) in 2003, gathered them (group members) and make them aware that what capabilities they have and how they can make their skills useful to themselves, instead of sitting idle. She also help Amandeep and other girls by enrolling them in the training of making homemade products like pickles, chutney and many other food products and also motivated them to study further.

Amandeep is not only working to earn and support her family but also to make her own identity in the society. She is very passionate about the work she is doing and she has also planned to pursue her education in the field of home culinary so that she can come up with different food products to sell it in the market. Name of the other girls’ are- Parminder, Baljeet, Ranjit, Gurpreet, Channi, Manjit, Pawandeep; these girls are very young, in their early twenties or below, but due to some circumstantial situation, they all have dropped out of their education in the middle. But they still have the zeal and enthusiasm to continue their study, explore new things, earn their own livelihood and be independent. All the girls are very fervent about their work and are interested in continuing their study along with SWCS business.

Amandeep and all her group members are very hard working and know how to manage their work efficiently. They buy all their raw material from the market (sabzi mandi) themselves for making pickles, chutney and fragrant waters. They make more than 10 variety of pickles, 2 types of chutney, 3 types of fragrant water and candies also.

Everything is handmade by them and is purely natural without any preservative. Pickles, chutneys, and candies made by them are very delicious and original in flavor and will remind you the taste of your grandmother’s hand.

Some of the most selling products are Mango Chutney, Lachha Nimbu Pickle, Ginger Pickle and Garlic Pickle. They visit as many exhibitions and events as they can to sell their handmade natural products; and other than that they personally visit different societies and committees of different districts to sell their product. Till now they have covered Fategarh, Firozpur, Ludhiana, and Moga, and in the coming time, there will be more cities. Usually, they use to make nearly 100 boxes of each pickle containing 1 kg each per day.

Currently, the group total income in only 20000 per month and it is very difficult for them to manage in such a tight cash flow. The reason behind this problem is they don’t have any proper platform to sell their product and also very few people know about Swati Women Cooperative Society. Well, according to them this is just the beginning and these types of hardships are never going to demotivate them or stop them from what they are doing.

Message by Amandeep Kaur (PRESIDENT OF SWATI WOMEN COOPERATIVE SOCIETY)
“Every girl should recognize their skill and use them wisely to be independent on their own. Today, women should not be dependent on others, they should be self-determining and self-regulating. Because it feels good when you have power in your hand to fulfil your own wishes. And education is very much necessary in enlightening and guiding the correct path. Working and being independent makes you feel special and confident of what you are. So, every girl should complete their education and choose the path which interests them and can help them to earn a good living.”

Gurjatinder Singh Virk

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Success Story Of A Farmer Who Started Fish Farming In Compulsion, But Today He Has Become An Inspiration For Others

Never thought by anyone, a land that had been lying vacant for the last 100 years, can be so productive and useful today. The reason that no one ever tried of doing anything on that land was, it remained waterlogged for 11 months in a year. But with the every coming new generation there comes a new thinking. We all know that to make a minor change in the surrounding and environment, great effort is needed, and that great effort can only come into action with strong willpower and passion. And with such a different outlook, intellect, and zeal, to do something for his motherland and for his community came Gurjatinder Singh Virk.

Gurjatinder Singh Virk residence of village Kandola, District Roopnagar, started fish farming on that 5 acres waterlogged land in the year of 1985, which came to him from ancestral property. As he was left with no other choice, so he especially visited Gurdaspur and took 5 days training before starting fish farming. He started fish farming almost 30 years ago, and since then, with his hard work and diligence, he has spread that 5 acres of land to 30 acres. His revolutionary step towards fish farming motivated many other farmers in following the same path, and ultimately it leads to manifold effect which helped in developing the whole wasteland into a fish farming area.

Today, about 300-400 acres of waste land is being used for the purpose of fish farming in the same area.

It all started years ago with a piece of land and one man’s effort, and today it has inspired many people. Eventually, that little step is helping in improving the livelihood of the farmers and many other localities by uplifting their living standard. Now, a community of passionate fishing farmers has been created in that area and their endeavours are ultimately resulting in the economic development of the area which is adding to the economic growth of the state and the nation.

Now, coming to the Mr. Virk’s farming method and economic progression. Gurjatinder Singh Virk farms breeds of common carp fishes like Catla and Rohu. 2000 fingerling fish seeds are needs for one pond is of one acre nearly. So, he use to put 2000 fingerling fishes, and the growth of the fishes depends upon the conditions of the water, quality of diet, and the predators present in the water. Generally, he puts two breeds of fishes in one pond and maintain an ideal condition for the good yield. He sold the fishes at Rs 80/Kg, whereas the market price is Rs 120/kg, and despite selling the fishes at a lower prices, he is earning in lakhs and making enough profit.

Gurjatinder Singh Virk has also taken many steps in preserving the nature; one of his important steps, he took is- reducing the carbon footprint by using solar pump sets to irrigate his own kitchen garden and also to fill up the pond. For the good work done by MR. Virk, he has received many awards and achievements, some of them are listed below-

He received District level award for Agriculture Technology Management and letter of Commendation by Roopnagar Administration for best agricultural practices. He was also awarded by Zee Networks for developing the area. In 2011 he was awarded as Best Citizen India Award, later on, followed by Bharat Jyoti Award and Fish Farmer Award.

His good work in the field of farming leads him to achieve membership in many prestigious committees and societies. Today, he is a member of Advisory Committee (ATMA) and Board of Management at GADVASU. He is also one of the 11 members of Kisan Vikas Chamber (which is set up to the pattern of major industry association of India like CII, FICCI, and ASSOCHAM); and the work done by this chamber is to upgrade the state’s deteriorating agrarian economy and bring it back on track by providing farmers with the latest updates related to farming. He was also Ex- grame warden (Forest Department) for Village Cooperative Society under NABARD for the District of Roopnagar and Mohali.

One of the major steps, taken by Gurjatinder Singh Virk in improving the fish farming method was visiting China with ex-chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, to know more about the technology being used in China for fish farming.

Apart from his global achievements, he has also worked very hard in making his surrounding a beautiful place full of greenery. He has his house in the centre of the ponds, and on that piece of land where he has his house, he has grown all types of vegetables and fruits. His farm has peaches, almonds, tangerine, mandarin, mango, pomegranate, apple, pine tree and more than 17 vegetables and pulses. He has developed the land around his house so well that, some of the rarest and common species of birds like fish-hawk, kingfisher, fork tail, geese, parrot, peacocks, etc., can be easily seen chirping around his farm. In short, development work on his homeland has created a diversity of the different species of birds.

All this way, the best motivation and companion who helped him in achieving what he has today, is his wife Rupinder Kaur Virk, she was with him in every step of life and helped him in every work. She also has a professional role in his life and that is maintaining accounting records of all the farm work. In the free time, she also loves to make pickles and candies for selling purpose, by using the own farm grown fruits. Gurjatinder Singh Virk manages all the farm work with the help of his wife and only two servants, and for the future development, he is working on the plan of making his farm a tourist place.

After the China visit Gurjatinder Singh Virk concluded that by using better technology, better production can be obtained, so he wants the farmers to start adopting new technologies for better production. He also mentioned that not having electricity supply 24-hour in their village is resulting into less farming produce and in the future, if they are provided with 24-hour electricity facility, then they can offer better results in the farming field. He thinks that from hard work you can reap anything from a piece of land, the only difference will be in the shape and appearance of the fruit and vegetable.

Rajmohan Singh Kaleka

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Story of a Man Who Is Known For Raising Poison Free Crop in Punjab

Born in an agriculturist family, S. Rajmohan Singh Kaleka is a successful progressive farmer from village Bishanpur, Patiala. Without using any kind of chemicals and pesticides he is growing Wheat and paddy on 20 acres of land and is taking good productivity (35 quintals paddy and wheat 22 quintals per acre) out of it from more than a decade.

He is also against stubble burning and he never burns the remains of the crop (straws). His method of poison free farming and eco-friendly agriculture practices has recognized him as a role model for the other peasants of Punjab.

Other than this he is also a member of the production committee of District Patiala. He is always affiliated with terms like progressive farmers, scientists, officers and agricultural expert; this is a big acknowledgement that he has received. Many agricultural scientist and officers often pay visits to his farm for research and exploration.

Along with his job and crop farming, he is also actively involved in dairy farming; he has kept few cows of Sahiwal breed. Other than this he has also established a Bio-Gas plant at his farm. According to him, one of the reasons that lead him to this level of accomplishment is the advisories taken by him from the agricultural experts, KVK’s and IARI.

In the free time, Rajmohan Singh likes to read books related to agriculture, because doing this boost him towards natural farming.

His Awards & Achievements…

For his good work and initiative towards poison free farming he has been honoured and awarded by many prominent people:

• State Level Award

• National Award

• Dhaliwal Award from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana

• Awarded by Honourable Supreme Court Judge

• Awarded by Honourable Rajyapal of Punjab & Haryana

• Awarded by Agriculture Minister

Not only awards, Mr. Rajmohan has also received special letters of appreciation from various government officials which has made him more proud:

• Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Agriculture, Punjab

• Director of Agriculture Punjab

• Deputy Commissioner Patiala

• Chief Agriculture Officer, Patiala

• Joint Director, IARI

Message:
“Farmers should take step towards poison less farming because this is the only way to sustain a better life and they should also make earth a habitable place for the future generation. Today farmer should understand the current need and look for more meaningful and sustainable ways of pursuing agriculture instead of fulfilling their monetary needs.”

 

S. Bharpur Singh

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Bharpur Singh Chose Floriculture Blossoms to Reap Profit from Farming

Agriculture is a diversified field and farmers can reap good profit out of it even in less land, all they need to be aware of is the modern way of farming and the right way to do it. This is the story of Bharpur Singh an ordinary farmer from Kheri Mallan village of Patiala, who always wanted to do something different than the cultivation of wheat and paddy.

Mr. Singh after completing his studies (school) decided to help his father- Sardar Ranjeet Singh in farming, but he was never satisfied with the trend that other farmers were following (wheat-paddy cycle). Although he helped his father in the fields, but his mind and soul wanted to do something different.

In 1999, he visited Gurdwara Rara Sahib with his family and bought some flower seeds of Chrysanthemum and that was the time when he entered in the field of floriculture. In the beginning, he started growing Chrysanthemum on a small piece of land and slowly with the time he found this venture profitable, so he increased the flower farming area.

With the time, as his sons grew up they also started taking interest in his father floriculture business. Now both the sons of Bharpur Singh is equally engaged in the floriculture.

Floriculture
Currently, they are growing four types of flowers in their farm- Chrysanthemum, Marigold, Jafri and Gladiolus. They use all the modern implements on their land. Floriculture is spread in 10 acres and sometimes they also take land on lease for farming other crops.

Seed Preparation
Other than farming they have also started preparing seeds of Jafri and Chrysanthemum flowers by themselves, and they import Gladiolus seeds direct from Holland, and Marigold seeds from Kolkata. Seed preparation helps them make a good profit, sometimes they also provide seeds to their friends and relatives just to promote floriculture.

Investment & Profit from Floriculture
Rupees 2 lakhs is the investment cost for Gladiolus in 1 acre and in return he gets Rupees 4 – 5 lakhs from one acre of Gladiolus, which means almost 50% profit or more.

Marketing
They are not dependent on the third person for the marketing. They market their produce themselves in the mandi of Patiala, Nabha, Samana, Sangrur, Bathinda, and Ludhiana. Their brand name is Nirman Flower Farm. Several camps related to agriculture are also organized by horticulture department at their farm in which many progressive farmers participate and training is provided to the regular farmers about floriculture.

Sardar Bharpur Singh gives most of the credit of his successful farming venture to Dr. Sandeep Singh Grewal (Horticulture Department, Patiala), Dr. Kulwinder Singh and Dr. Ranjeet Singh (PAU) because without their help and advice he would not be able to reach this stage in his life.

He gives a message to the farmers that they should not opt agriculture as to compete with other farmers but they should do it for themselves and with full interest then only they will be able to earn profits as desired.

Starting from a small level and achieving this much success in life, Bharpur Singh sets an example as a role model for the farmers who are looking towards adopting floriculture.

Message
“My message to farmers is that they should seriously think about the benefits of diversification. The vicious circle of wheat and paddy farming has left farmers in a bad shape and under lots of debts. The fertility of the soil is decreasing and farmers are being forced to use more and more chemicals to increase production. Diversification is the only way by which farmers can achieve success and gain more profits and raise their standard of living. Moreover, farmers should not opt agriculture as to compete with other farmers but they should do it for themselves and with full interest then only they will be able to earn profits as desired.”

 

 

Harjeet Singh Brar

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Despite Facing Many Problems, This Citrus Estate Owner Reinvented His Way to Stay Successful To Harvest the Sweetest Kinnows

Crop failure, insect/pest attack, rainfed land, financial condition are some of the problems that make the farmers helpless and handicapped sometimes, and these situations lead to suicide commits, starvation, and illiteracy. But some farmers do not accept their downfall so easily and they overcome these types of situations with their full determination and efforts. Harjeet Singh Brar, a residence of Deleanwali village (Faridkot), is one such a farmer whose quest of glory still echoes in the field of kinnow cultivation.

Mr. Brar got the inspiration of Kinnow farming after his visit to the orchard of Sardar Balwinder Singh Tikka situated at Abul Khurana village. Initially, he faced many problems like pest attacks of Citrus Psylla, Leaf Miner and disease like Phytophthora root rot, but he never stepped back or regretted his decision of Kinnow farming. But slowly with the time, he overcame all the problems and expanded his orchard from 6 acres to 70 acres.

To increase the orchard productiveness he implemented the High-Density farming technique. With his dedication and curiosity to learn more about Kinnow Farming, kept him afloat over all the problems and he started earning great profit from the business.

To polish his farming skills and give it a better professional touch, he undertook training from P.A.U, KVK Faridkot and Department of Horticulture.

The Passion for Conserving Natural Resources:
He is very passionate towards conserving the natural resources. He always tries to implement those farming technologies through which he can save the resources. With the guidance of PAU experts, he installed drip irrigation system and built a water storage tank of capacity 42 lakh litres, where he stores canal water. Along with this, he also invested in the solar panel to conserve solar energy and later use it to uplift water from storage tanks to his orchards. He also does mulching during peak summer months to conserve the soil moisture.

To improve the soil health he uses green manure and also recommends to other farmers. He prepares soil bed of around 20 m X 10 m and 20 m X 15 m for Kinnow cultivation.

How he deals with the pest…
To tackle the menace of citrus Psylla, White Fly, and Leaf Miner, he has especially implemented an indigenous aeroblast spray pump which ensures uniform spray of the pesticide and weedicide.

Adopting innovative trends…
Whenever he gets the opportunity to adopt any new trend or technology he never misses that. Once he borrowed an idea from Gurraj Singh Virk- an eminent horticulturist and designed a low-cost Kinnow cleaning cum grading machine (capacity of 2 tonnes per hour). And now this machine only cost him just Rs 125 to clean and grade 2 tonnes of fruit, but the biggest advantage is that he is saving Rs 1000 on manual cleaning. Today, he is making a great profit from his orchard business. He is an inspiration for other farmers.

MESSAGE
“All farmers, whether practicing organic or conventional farming should take immediate and stern measures to conserve the soil fertility. For Kinnow farming, the farmers should use green manure in the Kinnow plantations for improving the soil health.”

 

Yadwinder Singh

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This Farmer from Punjab Opted Best Alternative Over Conventional Wheat-Paddy Cycle and Is Making Double Profit from It

Where rice & wheat cultivation continues to rule in Punjab, some farmers still lack alternatives. Farmers having small land holdings and less awareness are still stuck in the conventional cycle of wheat and paddy. But this young lad- Yadwinder Singh from Chak Bakhtu village of Bathinda district has shooed away the old practices of farming with nursery preparation and organic vegetable farming.

Yadwinder Singh, a boy aspiring to fulfil his millions of dreams, completed his diploma in Hotel Management after his graduation and then placed as a reputed chef in Singapore for two years. But he was not happy with his work and he was feeling that something was missing in his life. So he came back to Punjab and very strong-mindedly he decided to enter the farming field.

In 2015 he started his organic venture but before that he acted wisely to avoid future losses. As being a nimble-witted person he took help of internet and attended farmer fairs and begin with nursery farming of organic vegetables. To promote his brand, Yadwinder also designed a logo for his business.

In the first year of his farming venture, he earned up to 1 lakh and today he is making more than 2.5 lakhs from just 2 canals (5 acres). Along with farming he also started nursery management which includes seed preparation, soil management. He even does not need to go to the market to sell the seedlings, because farmers themselves visit his farm to buy the seedlings.

Today Yadwinder Singh is very happy with his occupation and income. In future he want to expand his domain and grow some more crops to reap good profit.

Message:
“We know that government does not make enough effort to support the ordinary farmers. But farmers shouldn’t feel discouraged, because with strong determination and smart approach they can achieve what they want.”

Gurdial Singh

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How A Farmer’s Hard Work & Passion Led the Yellow Revolution in the Gurdaspur District of Punjab

Punjab is a state where the dominance of wheat and paddy cultivation is greater as compared to the other crops because it generates a great level of profit to the cultivators. And generally, the farmer also prefer to invest in wheat and paddy farming because of the positive profit results. But there is a farmer who is different from the others, and he thought of initiating a change in the farming culture by starting the Yellow Revolution.

Mr. Gurdial Singh a turmeric farmer from Sallopur village in Gurdaspur district, has three roles by profession- a farmer, an entrepreneur and a turmeric cultivation trainer. Today he is cultivating turmeric, processing it, marketing his product himself and selling it in the market; he is not dependent on the third person to sell his produce. He chose a different path from the rest of the farmer to make his own identity in the society. At present, his yearly turmeric production is between 1500 to 2000 quintals and he is the king of Green Gold Spice Group.

Success is not achieved so easily, a person has to do hard work, face difficulties and hardships and sometimes losses also occurs. After facing all these adversities, with the spirit of not giving up and moving forward in the same direction, helps in achieving success. Gurdial Singh’s farming story is similar. After passing his matriculation he tried for government jobs, but getting failed after many attempts he decided to go hand in hand with his father to support him in farming. From the beginning, he was never satisfied with the conventional farming methods, because a farmer isn’t able to get the right worth of his crops grown from his hard work. So, in 2004 he experimented with turmeric cultivation on a small land with the guidance of Horticulture Department. And along with that he also started processing turmeric into turmeric powder but without using any machinery.

Processing turmeric into turmeric powder manually was very backbreaking. So, after the Horticulture Department suggestion, he installed mechanized processing unit for turmeric powder production. Further, he also invested in modern farming machinery, such as tractor, trolley, leveller, tiller etc. And all these steps taken by him has increased the production of raw turmeric from 60 Quintals to 110 Quintals today. By putting all these stepping stones together he started his own turmeric processing plant in 2007 and named it as Green Gold Haldi Processing Plant and Haldi Green Gold Spice is one of the products of this plant. His family including wife, two sons, one daughter, and everyone plays a major role in all the activities related to the processing of turmeric such as washing, boiling, polishing and grinding. He also has 4-5 labours working for him in the processing plant and all the packaging, sealing and stamping work is done by the equal contribution of family members in his home. After setting up all the machinery system there are still some minor problems that he is facing. Out of all the problems, not having enough space for drying up the boiled raw turmeric is the one.

The reasons behind why Gurdial Singh chose turmeric cultivation are:

• It needs less irrigation, in the time period between sowing to harvesting (8-10 months), irrigation is done only 10-12 times.

• Moreover, as turmeric is an antibiotic in nature, so the turmeric crop do not seem to catch any kind of disease from any other plants or crops, due to which less chemicals and sprays are used in turmeric farming.

• He invests around 35000 in one acre of land, and in one acre of land he sows 5 quintals of seeds and potato digger can also be used for turmeric harvesting.

• He sows turmeric in 6-7 acres of his total land, and after sometime, he rotates the crops, due which the land in which turmeric was cultivated becomes more fertile.

So, if a farmer is interested in turmeric farming then he can also start with it easily. The total machinery cost invested by Gurdial Singh in setting up the turmeric processing plant was 4.5 lakhs. He takes all the suggestion for training, types of turmeric seed from Punjab Agriculture University and also gets 25% subsidy on “Green Gold Processing Unit” as per NHM guidelines by the Horticulture Department of Punjab. For his revolutionary work and the different path he has achieved many awards and appreciations, some of them are listed below:

• Udmai Kissan Award 2014 from CM of Punjab

• Datawid Kissan Award 2015

• Awarded by P.A.U. Ludhiana and Horticulture Department Punjab at Chappar Chiri

The way he is rising and advancing his farming methods, these are just a few awards that he has received and in future, he is going to receive many more.

Apart from turmeric farming and processing it into powder, he is also helping other fellow farmers of his village by giving them the right guidelines for turmeric farming. Today, almost 60 farmers are associated with him and he gives free training to all of them. He helps other farmers by purchasing raw turmeric from them at the right price. Apart of sowing turmeric in his own land (6-7 acres), he also helps his other friends by sowing turmeric in their fields. To support all his work through marketing and promotion, NABARD supports them by giving them space in different exhibitions, events and Kisaan Mela under the Farmer Producers Organizations.

Other than turmeric cultivation and processing, Gurdial Singh has also invested in beekeeping business. He started it in 2000 from just 5 boxes and with the time and investment today he has 100 boxes. He has employed labours for beekeeping to manage it properly. In the rest of the land, he grows lentils (green mung beans), eggplant, ladyfinger, wheat and paddy for his own home use. His future plans for Green Gold Haldi Processing Plant is to advance the packaging process by using hi-tech machines.

According to his thinking, if a farmer wants to earn good profit from his farming and do something great from his harvested crops, then he has to eliminate the middle man. Farmer has to start process his crops himself and sell it himself in the market. All these things need great effort, energy, and enthusiasm. Otherwise, if the farmer feels ashamed of selling his produce himself directly in the market then he cannot earn the profit and will remain at the same level. Furthermore, if a farmer is interested in turmeric cultivation then he can refer the experts of PAU or other successful turmeric farmers because experts can tell better about the types of seeds, and types of land required, and other necessary conditions.


MESSAGE BY GURDIAL SINGH

“According to the current needs, conventional farming ways cannot help the farmer. The farmers need to diversify if they want to earn well from their harvested produce. From modern farming ways, even a small farmer can also achieve success. Today, food processing is the need of the hour, so every farmer should start thinking in a different way. Farmer has to understand that there is no need of middleman to sell their product in the market. They can also do it on their own.“

Gurdev Kaur Deol

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Story of a Woman Who Is Leading a Change in the Women Society through Entrepreneurship

Over the years, women in India, have made a substantial impact and achieved success in most of the sectors, but still, there are many women who are way behind and are just confined to the household work. Today, we need to promote women to be a great part of the workforce and develop their skills. Because women have the power to accelerate the growth of country’s economy. And the best way to empower the women is by entrepreneurship not by charity. There are many people working voluntarily to promote women empowerment, but the best person who can empower a woman is a woman herself. One such woman who is working in the interest of womankind and encouraging them to be independent is Mrs. Gurdev Kaur Deol.

Gurdev Kaur Deol is a progressive farmer and president of Global Self-Help Group. Born and brought up on the land of Punjab, she was a strong-willed girl from the beginning. She was very active and enthusiastic, and always wanted to take initiative in helping her female counterpart and make them feel empowered.

Like other women, she was also married after completing her studies (MA- B.Ed. from G.H.G. Khalsa Colleges, Gurusar Sadhar, Ludhiana). But after her marriage, she realized that this is not all, for what she is meant for. In 1995 she started beekeeping with 5 boxes and 1999 she also started marketing self-made products like pickles, chutneys, etc.,

In 2004 she came in connection with PAU, and then she comprehended that, so far she had only theoretical knowledge, so she gained practical knowledge from PAU. She also became a member of Beekeeper Association of PAU. After doing this much on her own, she realized that she has to make other women of her society aware of their capabilities. So, in 2008, she formed a cooperative society by gathering 15 women of her village and named it Global Self-Help Group. She helped all the women of her group get enrolled in the PAU training program so that they can learn proper skills.

In the beginning her group started making pickle, chutney, jams, honey, sauces, squash juices and murraba. Soon her group started earning a good profit and after 6 months, the bank offered them the loan for their work. They expanded their work bit by bit and also started organic farming and added more products to their collection.

In 2012 she partnered with NABARD and got her group registered with them and turned it into an NGO, and after that, her group members started processing their work. After registering up with NABARD she was assigned a target to form 100 self-help groups more, to promote and encourage women to develop their skills and be independent. Till now she has made 25 groups and PAU is also helping her in making more groups. In 2015 she registered Global Self Help Group with Farmer Producer Organization. Till now she has connected more than 400 women and men and formed separate groups of them.

Today NABARD is also supporting her group by providing funds, so that she can provide practical training free of cost to unprivileged and needy women and make their groups. She always approaches a woman by telling her to start making recipes for her own family, children, and relatives. Because she thinks, if a housewife cannot meet the needs of her home, then how will she do the same thing outside.

Currently, Mrs. Gurdev Kaur Deol is living in Village Dasmesh Nagar, Ludhiana with her husband Mr. Gurdev Singh Deol, and is successfully running her group and guiding other women and farmers to do better.  Till now she has total 32 products including organic pulses, lentils, squashes, and spices. Beekeeping is one her favourite hobby and now her group has 450 boxes of honey bee boxes. She also does dairy farming and makes milk products for selling purpose. They also purchase organic pulses from the farmers, pack them and sell them. She sells all the products made by her group under the name of Global Agro-Food Products. She is earning good profits by Global Self Help Group.

In future, she is planning to open a shop in the name of her group, so that she can establish a proper platform to sell her products, and she also wants to connect the farmers from Himachal Pradesh for the trade of organic pulses, vegetables, and maize etc.,

Till now she has achieved many awards and achievements for her work. Some of them are listed below-

• Sardarni Jagbir Kaur Award in 2009
• State Award from Agriculture Department under ATMA Scheme in 2010
• National Award for Dairy Farming in 2011
• State Award To Global Self Help Group from NABARD in 2012


Message by Gurdev Kaur Deol
“Gurdev Kaur has a special message for the farmers who have less land. If a farmer has 3-4 acres of land, then they should start growing vegetables and pulses on it by following natural farming method, instead of wheat and paddy. Because organic farming can help them earn more profit in a safe way. And every woman should start using her skill and be productive.”

Baldev Singh Brar

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Baldev Singh Brar- A Progressive Farmer with 80-Year-Old Body but 25 Year Young Mind and Soul

1960 was the year when Baldev Singh Brar S/o Arjan Singh started farming and it was same year when Green Revolution was at its peak time. Ever since then, neither his enthusiasm nor his passion has diminished for farming.

Born and brought up on the land of Punjab – village Singhawala, district Moga, Baldev Singh Brar has made considerable achievements in the agriculture sector and won several awards from Agriculture Department, Firozpur.

He chose to do farming priority wise by taking advice from agriculture scientist of Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Moga (Punjab). His main attention was especially towards the cultivation of Wheat and Guar. And after some time, he shifted his interest towards the cultivation of poplar and papaya by replacing paddy. In 1985 he also turned his way towards horticulture by planting Kinnow in 9 acres and vineyard in 3 acres to earn more profit. For the domestic purpose, he grows fruits and vegetables separately. In total, he has 37 acres of land out of which 27 acres is his own and 10 acres on the contract basis.

His Achievements:

Baldev Singh Brar was not only interested towards farming but also towards farm mechanization to make agriculture practices easier. Once he gave a technical advice to an industrial unit of Moga to develop a machine for puddling of paddy at a low cost and that machine has become very famous now.

He has also developed a powerful spring cultivator that is capable of breaking the hard layer of the paddy fields after harvesting.

One of his smart implementations through which he is earning good, is the advice given by agriculture scientist. He always keeps a full documentation of his income and expenditure. And in order to never let down the curiosity worm of agriculture inside him, he always attends “Farmer Fairs” to become aware of new inventions and trends in the field of agriculture. He also motivates other farmers towards scientific farming methods for better results.

Message:
“A farmer is a nation builder, so he should never feel down and hopeless in the time of difficulties. A farmer should be versatile in adapting the modern eco-friendly agriculture trends, then only he can progress and take good yield out of the land.”

Gurpreet Shergill

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Man Bringing Flower-Farming Renaissance in Punjab

In the recent years, floriculture has emerged as a rising agri-business in India and 20% annual growth in exports has been observed in the floriculture industry. This is a good insignia representing the development of agri-sector in India which is only possible due to the contribution of some hardworking revolutionary countrymen.

1996 was the year when the man behind the Punjab Flower Farming Renaissance- Gurpreet Singh Shergill, took his first step towards floriculture, and today he is well-recognized floriculturist associated with many prestigious government bodies.

Gurpreet Singh Shergill – “After completing my degree in 1993 in Mechanical Engineering, I was confused about my career choice. I always wanted to do a work which makes me happy and gives me recognition, not that work which gives my worldly pleasures.”

Gurpreet Singh Shergill chose the farming field and along with that he also started dairy farming as his full-time profession. He never felt satisfied with his work, which made him work harder and think deeper. That was when he realized that he is not here to fall into the trap of wheat-paddy cycle and it took 3 years to understand this. Flowers always fascinated him, so with the expert advice of his father – Baldev Singh Shergill and support of his brother – Karanjit Singh Shergill, he decided to give floriculture a try. Marigold was the first successful yield that he got in that season.

After that nothing stopped him from achieving what he wanted…One main person to whom Gurpreet Singh Shergill gives the major credit, apart from father and brother is his wife, she is the main supporting pillar throughout his farming venture.

Marigold harvest was followed by Gladiolus, Gulzafri, Rose, Statice and Gypsophila harvests. This is how he turned into someone from a regular farmer.

Some stats about his foreign trips

In 2002, his quest for knowledge and know-how, took him Holland, where he attended Floriade (International Flower Exhibition organized after every 10 years).

He also visited world’s largest auction centre for fresh flowers in Aalsmeer, Holland.

In 2003, he also attended World Rose Convention in Glasgow, UK.

How he diversified his farming activities…

With his flourishing floriculture work, he established Vermicompost plant and added fishery in his farming practices.

Vermicompost plant is supporting him dually- he is using the compost in his field as well also selling it in the market.

He has also created his product line which includes Rose Water, Rose Sharbat, Aloe-Vera and Amla Juice. Compost and Rosewater are sold under the brand name “Balson”, and Rose Sharbat, Aloe Vera and Amla Juice under the brand name of “Shergill Farm Fresh”.

With his sheer hard work and dedication, he transformed his passion for agriculture into a successful business.

Many agriculture-related government bodies soon recognized his efforts and awarded him with multiple awards… some of the prominent awards are:

• Punjab Chief Minister Award, 2011 by PAU, Ludhiana

• Jagjivan Ram Innovative Farmer Award, 2012 by ICAR, New Delhi

• N.G. Ranga Farmer Award, 2014 by ICAR, New Delhi

• Innovative Farmer Award, 2015 by IARI, New Delhi

• Nominated for Member of National Advisory Panel (NAP) for Farmer’s FIRST Programme, 2016 by IARI, New Delhi

Even after, accomplishing so much, Gurpreet Singh Shergill never brags about his achievements. He is a very clear-head person who always seeks different information sources to grab knowledge and relate it to his farming practices. In the pastime, he likes to read agriculture magazines like Modern Kheti, Floriculture Today, Kheti Dunia etc. He is also an active participant in agriculture fairs and events. He believes in sharing the knowledge and he never let down any farmer who come for help. To help the farmer community, he is playing a major role as an Apni Kheti expert by contributing his knowledge.

Gurpreet Shergill has shown that if one is dedicated and hardworking, one can achieve success. And in today’s time when farmers are reeling with losses and debts and committing suicides, he stands as a torchbearer for the entire agricultural community by demonstrating that diversification is the need of the hour as well as the path to a better future for the agricultural community.

To know more about his diversified agriculture business visit his website.

Gurdeep Singh Nambardar

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Gurdeep Singh Script Success Story in Mushroom Cultivation

With the combined effort and support of the whole family based in Gurali village of Firozpur district (Punjab), Gurdeep Singh Nambardar has scripted his success in the field of mushroom farming. Pooling all his resources and determination, he started mushroom cultivation in 2003 and till now he has employed 60 families with his venture.

Starting from a small level and slowly expanding to a grander level, today Gurdeep Singh has earned an identity of a successful mushroom farmer and along with that, he has also built a large mushroom farm. Other than being a successful mushroom farmer he was also Sarpanch of his village for 20 years.

As per the suggestion by PAU he started this venture and in the beginning, it cost him about 20 quintals of straw. Today his farm is much bigger as compared to 2003, and now it cost him about 7 thousand quintals of straw annually.

Many farmers of his village are inspired by his initiative. For his success in mushroom farming, he was also honoured with district-level award for producing mushrooms through high-tech farming at Progressive Farmer Fair conducted in his village by Agriculture Department, Firozpur in collaboration with district administration.

Message:
“Mushroom farming is a profitable venture with low investment. Farmers should invest in mushroom farming if they want to earn well. ”

 

Sardar Gurmail Singh

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How Gurmail Singh Made Modern Techniques His Tool to Earn Profit Out Of Vegetable Farming

Gurmail Singh is another progressive farmer from Uchagaon village of Patiala, Punjab. Despite having less land, he is reaping great profit out of it from the last 23 years by doing vegetable cultivation. He has around 17.5 acres of land out of which 11 acres he owns and has taken 6.5 acres on the contract basis.

Modern farming techniques like drip irrigation, spray irrigation, and laser leveller are some of his power tools which help him to do efficient farming and water conservation. And when it comes to pesticides usage, then he is very smart. He uses pesticides only on the recommendation of Punjab Agriculture University. Mostly he tries to use green natural manure in his fields for better yield.

The other modern technique which he is using adeptly is the light tunnel in 6 acres to grow vegetables. And some of the crops that he especially grows every season are rice, wheat, clover, cabbage, melon, tomato, eggplant, cucumber, peas and bitter gourd. To give a powerful boost to his farming venture he also took training for the preparation of hybrid seeds soy operations and other allied activities like beekeeping and dairy farming etc., from Agriculture Science Centre, Patiala.

Marketing
His vast year of experience not only includes growing different crops advantageously but he also enhanced his marketing skills, and today he has his own sales outlet at “Atma Kisan Hut (Patiala)”. Quality of his processed produce has increased his sales day by day. He has also established a soy plant under the brand name “Smart” in 2012 and under this plant, he processes and sells products such as soy milk, cheese, flour, and nuts.

Achievements
He is an inspiration for the other farmers and soon he will be honoured with the CRI Pumps Award.

Message
“Farmers should use less pesticides and chemicals in their field if they want to live a healthy life and reap good yield out of their land in the present as well as in the future.”

 

Hartej Singh Mehta

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Hartej Singh Mehta- Laying Foundation For Better Future By Inspiring Others To Pursue Organic Farming

Earlier organic was a term which was very rarely used or practiced. There were very few farmers who use to do organic farming and that also for the home purpose. But with the time, people recognized that every shining vegetable or fruit looks good but is not good for health.

This is the story of a farmer – Hartej Singh Mehta, who took a wise decision 10 years back and is very grateful for it. For Hartej Singh Mehta continuing organic farming was the best decision he ever took in his life. And today he is the renowned personality for organic farming in his area (Mehta Village- Bathinda).

As being from the Malwa region of Punjab, where farmers use pesticides and chemicals at a very high rate to get good productivity, Hartej Singh Mehta chose to maintain harmony with nature. He is very dedicated towards his hereditary occupations from his childhood and for him living a simple life is more important than bragging about his achievements.

Despite being highly qualified (MA Punjabi, MA Political Science), he chose to pursue organic farming instead of running behind the city life and govt. job. Currently, he has 11 acres of land in which he grows Cotton, Wheat, Mustard, Sugarcane, Lentil, Spinach, Fenugreek, Carrot, Radish, Onions, Garlic and almost all the vegetables. He always prefers to prepare his fields by following natural ways which work well for cotton (F 1378), wheat (1482) and Bansi named seeds.

“Reasons like dissatisfaction, illiteracy, and desire of higher productivity of the farmers lead them to use chemical fertilizers and pesticides, due to which, farmers who are known as the Savior are now serving toxin in the society.Nowadays farmers use pesticides and chemicals for pest management which harms the good worms and fertility of the soil. They are not aware that by using chemicals in their farm they are ultimately poisoning the whole food chain. Moreover, by using chemicals and pesticides they are not only worsening the environmental conditions but also facing major economic loss due to increasing debt.”  – Said by Hartej Singh Mehta

Mr. Mehta always practices natural method and whenever he needs information related to natural farming he refers Pingalwara Society, Amritsar and Agricultural Heritage Mission. He generally uses cow urine and animal dung for preparing fertilizer, as this is good for the soil and is also very economical.

According to Mr. Mehta, consuming naturally grown food has kept him and his family perfectly healthy and away from diseases. Due to this reason also Mr. Mehta feels inspired towards organic farming and in future also he will continue doing it.

Message
“I want to give the same message to the farmers across the country that we should come out of the shackles of private companies and should pledge to make healthy society by serving them healthy food.”

Avtar Singh Ratol

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53 Old Year Farmer Scaling New Heights and Harvesting Double Profit in the Field Of Horticulture

Agriculture is not just cows and plows…its more than that!

Today agriculture field has many new things to do, about which normal city people are not aware of. From planting improved variety of seeds to implementing new enhanced farming techniques and implements, farming is not less than any rocket science. And very few farmers are there who understands that changing farming practices with the changing time can help them alleviate the future risks. One such a farmer from Sarod village of Sangrur district who understood the fact of changing with the time very well is S. Avtar Singh Ratol.

32 is a great number of experience for a farmer, and S. Avtar Singh Ratol has used it well in shaping his horticulture career in the right direction. He started cultivating vegetables in 50 acres in the beginning and slowly expanded his farming reach to a greater area. For better irrigation he implanted underground pipeline in 47 acres which benefited him a lot in the future.

To boost up his farming productivity, he took training from Agriculture Science Centre and Farm Advisory Service Centre in Sangrur. From the knowledge that he gained during his training, he built two high-tech poly-houses in 4000 square feet and started cultivating cucumber and gerbera flower in it. Currently, his annual income from the cultivation of cucumber and gerbera is around 7.5 lakh rupees which are more than enough to manage his farming inputs.

Horticulture became S. Avtar Singh Ratol’s full-time passion and to give a kick to his arousing interest he went abroad to learn advance horticulture techniques. Abroad visit had positive results on the farm productivity and S. Avtar Singh Ratol achieved huge success in the crop cultivation of potatoes, pepper, melon, capsicum, wheat, etc. Besides this, he also started preparing the vegetable nursery and selling it to other farmers.

Counting on his achievements…

Adopting drip irrigation to save water, developing a small Trans-Planter to plant the vegetable sapling and perform many other tasks and using low tunnel technique, are some of his achievements which helped him doing successful cultivation of capsicum and many other vegetables. He faced no difficulty in implementing all these modern farming techniques at his farm, which encouraged him to progress more.

Awards
• Awarded with “S Dalip Singh Dhaliwal Memorial Award”.
• Awarded by “Chief Minister Award” for his success in horticulture.
Message
“Horticulture is a profitable field with lots of new farming methods and cost-effective techniques that farmer must try to give a great boost to his income.”

Rajwinder Pal Singh Rana

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HOW A FARMER IS EMPOWERING FISH FARMING INDUSTRY WITH MODERN TECHNOLOGY

Agricultural practices and farming trends differ globally, on the other hand, breed variety and location also plays a very important role. And living in a country like India, where both land and climatic conditions are in favour of agriculture, it’s a plus point for the farmers to reap benefit. But, the field in which the Indian farmers are lacking behind is the farming technology. One such a farmer who is bringing the modern farming technology from abroad to his motherland is Rajwinder Pal Singh Rana. He is a residence of Mandiani, Ludhiana, Punjab.

For Mr. Rana stepping into the field of fish farming was a totally new thing in 2000, but today by seeing his achievements nobody can say that. He started fish farming with 1.5 acres of land. But before this, he covered a long successful path as a marketing professional. As being an MBA graduate in Advertising and Sales Promotion he worked for a couple of years for many well-recognized brands like Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson.

But, maybe working as a marketing pro was not what he wanted to do in his life. He felt a something missing in his life and decided to return to his roots in Punjab. After taking the advice of a senior official from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), he decided to pursue a career in fish farming. He undertook training programs at PAU and Fish Farmer Development Agency, Ludhiana respectively, before venturing into commercial fish farming business.

In a span of 16 years, his farming venture has expanded to 70 acres. And in these years he has visited a new nation every year, to learn latest farming practices and technologies used in fish farming.

“People in Holland and Israel share the information while Russians are a bit secretive!” he says in a lighter vein.

His Inventions
From the beginning, Mr. Rana was always very curious and interested in knowing about new technologies. So after his foreign exploration, Mr. Rana invented new fishery products and machinery from his mastermind and implemented at his farm.

Machine to track the growth of fish in the pond
The first thing that he invented after his visit to Holland experience was a tag tracking machine for fishes. This machine helps in tagging and tracing every fish. Originally it’s a Dutch machine and is not affordable for an ordinary farmer, so Rajwinder created an Indian version of that machine. By using this machine a farmer can closely tag track a fish and can take the desired action in case of any risk to the other fishes.

Fish dung manure
The second thing he invented was fish dung manure. He invented a procedure in which fish waste is mixed with jaggery and decomposed for 45 days in a deep ditch and then it can be used directly. And this manure is very beneficial for horticulture purpose.

Device for carrying live fish for sale in the market
As we all know live and fresh fishes fetches better returns, so he developed a special water tank in which a 12 V DC motor will pump air through an air blower and will keep the fish alive and fresh, while the farmer carries it to the market.

Fashion accessories made from fish skin
Fish skin releases an acid like substance, due to which the fish skin remain shiny 24/7 in the water. So, Mr. Rana recognized its use and instead of discarding the fish skin, he used it for making mobile covers. Punjab Agriculture University helped him in making this project successful. The mobile covers made from the fish skin are very beneficial, as they prevent the emission of mobile radiations and safeguard humans from ill effects. He also understood that fish skin can also be used for making bags as a women accessory. Moreover, in the international market fish skin is valued at 600 Euros/inch. Mr. Rana has already applied for the patent on mobile covers and is waiting for government approval.

He also discussed the challenges faced in the fishery industry of India, –

“Banks in India don’t support fishery projects. There are other issues related to the availability of electricity and water. Lack of literacy among the farmers is another factor which has hampered the growth of fishery sector in India.”

He believes that Government of India should help in this regard by sponsoring trips of groups containing one scientist and nine farmers to foreign countries for training.

Currently, Rajwinder is raising rohu, catla and murak fish breeds at his Raj Aqua World farm for commercial purpose. Many other fellow farmers also benefited by using his techniques. He has developed successful fishing partnerships with other farmers and is selling large quantities of fish to other states. The fish-lets have been purchased from the government at subsidized rates. All thFrom the beginning, Mr. Rana was always very curious and interested in knowing about new technologies. So after his foreign exploration, Mr. Rana invented new fishery products and machinery from his mastermind and implemented at his farm.is success is the result of his ability to adopt new technology, innovations, and experimentation.

Future Plan
His plan is to focus on aquaponics in the future. He insists that expensive fish breed should be used in aquaponics for better results.

Awards & Achievements:

• Received award for Best Farmer of Punjab – 2004-05 from PAU Kisan Club (Regd.) for best utilization of waste water in aquaculture

• Best Fish Farmer of Punjab – 2005-06, Ministry of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development and Fishery from Mr. Jagmohan Kang

• Best Input Technology in Water Harvesting in Aquaculture – 2005, Ministry of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development and Fishery from Mr. Jagmohan Kang

• Best Production Award in low level water harvesting technology – Fish Farmers Development Agency, Moga (35 qt.) – 2005

• Best Farmer Award for water quality management – 2006-07

• Award for Storage of Aquaculture water and reusing agriculture resources – 2008-09

• Award for best utilization of sewage water in aquaculture – 2010-11